KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Jamison Guerra led five Oregon Tech starters in double-figures with 21 points, but the Owls could not overcome a hot-shooting night from Warner Pacific, as the Knights earned an 88-78 victory at Danny Miles Court.
 
WPU (14-7, 11-5 CCC) made 58-percent of their field goals in the win – including 11 3-pointers – countering every second half rally by the Hustlin' Owls.
 
Tech (10-12, 7-9) scored the first seven points of the game and had a 14-7 lead following a driving Guerra basket. Darius Traylor took over, canning consecutive triples to pull the visitors even at 21-21, adding two additional 3-pointers late in the half to give WPU a 48-41 halftime lead.
 
"It's a pretty tough match-up for us in our third game in five days," said OIT head coach Justin Parnell. "Warner forces us to do some things different defensively and we took our chances on Traylor – he had hit nine 3's all year – and tonight he goes 4-for-4."
 
OIT used a flurry early in the second half, capped by a monster Kaison Faust dunk, to cut the margin to 54-53 – only to see the Knights answer with an 11-2 run, with a Maxwell Moses 3-point play giving WPU a 65-55 lead.
 
The Hustlin' Owls pulled within 79-74 inside the final four minutes, but buzzer-beating 3's from Caleb-Tyree Morgan and Thomas Miles kept OIT at bay.
 
Kody Bauman scored 16 points in the loss, Joey Potts had 15 points and 12 rebounds, Faust tallied a season-high 14 points with eight rebounds and Keegan Shivers added 10 points and six assists – as the Owls starters scored 76 of their 78 points. Tech made 17-of-18 free throws on the night.
 
Traylor scored 20 points and Moses chipped in with 18 in the victory for WPU.
 
OIT hits the road next weekend for games at Evergreen State and Northwest.