PORTLAND, Ore. – Thomas Miles scored a game-high 29 points, including the go-ahead free throws with 58 seconds remaining, as Warner Pacific got two key defensive stops late to claim an 87-86 victory over Oregon Tech at Bart Valentine Court.
 
A game that featured 14 second half lead changes, the Hustlin' Owls (5-7, 2-4 CCC) grabbed an 86-85 lead on a Joey Potts driving lay-up with 88 seconds left. Following Miles' free throws, Tech had two chances to take the lead – but Jamison Guerra missed an open 3-pointer and following a defensive stop, Kody Bauman missed a contested lay-up with three seconds left. Potts grabbed the rebound, but lost the ball out of bounds inside the final second – giving WPU the win.
 
The Knights (8-4, 4-2), who improved to 3-0 at home this season got a triple from Isaac Etter and two 3's from Caleb-Tyree Morgan in the first 90 seconds, jumping to a 9-0 lead. WPU had their largest lead at 19-9, before the Hustlin' Owls rattled off 13-straight points – including a 3-point play and 3-pointer Noah Thomas, a Guerra triple and a put-back basket from Blake Jensen.
 
Leading 44-42 at the break, WPU scored the first five points of the second half, before OIT got a 3-pointer from Kam Osborn and consecutive 3's from Erik Fraser, part of an 11-2 run to give the visitors a 53-51 lead. From that point – neither team had a lead greater than four points – leading to the wild finish.
 
Five OIT players scored in double figures, led 18 points and nine rebounds from Potts. Osborn added 13 points and six assists, with Bauman, Thomas and Keegan Shivers all scoring 10.
 
Miles converted 11-of-15 field goals on the night in the win, as WPU finished the game making 54-percent of their shot attempts. Isaac Etter added 17 points and Dakota Reber had 13 points and nine boards.
 
Tomorrow, OIT travels to Multnomah for a key match-up – one that head coach Justin Parnell talked about on the KLAD-FM postgame show.
 
"The tell-tale sign of our season is that we need to find a way to win a game tomorrow," said Parnell. "And once we get a win tomorrow, we need to find a way to win the next game. We play hard, we give a great effort, we just need to follow our scout and make the plays we know we can."