LEWISTON, Idaho – Jackson Cooper scored a game-high 25 points, including a go-ahead jump hook with 80 seconds left in the contest, as Oregon Tech remained unbeaten in Cascade Conference play with a 70-66 victory at Lewis-Clark State.
 
The win was the sixth in a row for the No. 20-ranked Hustlin' Owls (11-3, 6-0 CCC) and their first-ever regular-season win inside the P1FCU Activity Center. Tech limited LC State to 40% shooting, including a 5-of-22 clip from 3-point range and scored 19 points off 14 Warrior turnovers.
 
LC (10-4, 4-2) controlled the middle part of the first half, as Grayson Hunt scored 6-straight points in a 14-0 run, giving the hosts a 26-17 lead. OIT answered with a run of their own, as Cooper, Dakota Reber and Owen Nathan all had four points in a 16-2 run, helping Tech build a 33-28 lead – with the guests leading 38-34 at the half.
 
OIT built a 48-40 lead following a Grant Tull 3-pointer with 13 minutes left and led 54-47 lead following a Cooper lay-up – but went six minutes without a made field goal. Defense weathered the storm for the Owls, as Brandon Suber got LC finally even with 1:45 left following a driving lay-up at 66-66.
 
Cooper answered on the ensuing possession, making a strong post move on the block and converting a contested 10-footer for the lead. OIT would survive three turnovers and four missed shots from LC, before Nathan put the game out of reach with two free throws with 10 seconds left.
 
Dakota Reber scored 14, Tull had 12 and Nathan finished with 10 points and three steals in the win – as the Owls held their sixth-straight league opponent under the 70-point mark.
 
Hunt and Suber led the Warriors with 17 points, as LC lost for the first time at home this season.
 
Tech returns home next Friday, hosting Eastern Oregon for the 16th-annual Pink Out, presented by Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center. The first 1,000-fans will receive a commemorative Pink Out t-shirt.