KLAMATH FALLS, OR – No. 22 Oregon Tech erased (RV) LC State Men’s Basketball’s early lead on Friday, but the Warriors battled back in overtime to upset No. 22 Oregon Tech 82-78 and split the season series. LC State drained nine 3-pointers and held OIT to just 1-for-14 from behind the arc.
Jamare’ Childs and Dylan Skaife each drained four 3-pointers to lift the Warriors over the Owls.
“Awesome win for our guys,” coach Austin Johnson said. “We got off to as good of a start as possible but we knew that OIT is too good of a team to not make a push. Even when we lost the lead late our guys made good decisions and ultimately hit enough free throws down the stretch. Grayson (Hunt) and Josh (Salguero) did an admirable job defensively and our perimeter guys kept the ball moving, got paint touches and hit open 3s. We have a quick turnaround tomorrow against an SOU team that is on a roll. Hopefully we will have some gas in the tank; excited to see how we respond.”
The victory has the LC State record at 16-5 on the season and 10-3 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warriors made 10-of-11 baskets to start play in Klamath Falls. Dylan Skaife opened the contest with five straight points and John Lustig capped a 7-0 run that lasted the first two minutes. Jamare’ Childs netted a pair of 3-pointers to push the advantage to 15-2 by 16:22, and baskets by Peyton Nordland, Grayson Hunt, Lustig and Childs made it 23-6 at 13:41.
Skaife drained a triple and free throws by Nordland and Hunt pushed the margin to 30-8, but OIT rallied to cut the difference to 36-24 at 4:30. Skaife and Childs each added 3-pointers to push the advantage back to 42-26 by 3:17. Childs sank one more triple and Skaife added free throws for a 47-32 lead at the break.
Oregon Tech cut the difference to 10 in the first two minutes of the second half and surged to tie the game 53-53 with 12:43 left to play. Skaife and Lustig put together a run of five points, both on assists from Brandon Suber, before Suber and Josh Salguero capped the nine-point run for a 62-53 lead at 10:04.
Nordland and Hunt netted clutch free throws in the final minutes before a 74-74 tie at the end of 40 minutes forced the game into overtime.
Lustig scored the first eight LC State points of the extra five minutes and pushed the Warriors to an 80-78 edge in the final seconds. Suber was fouled with five seconds on the clock and converted both foul shots to seal the upset victory.
STAT RECAP
Skaife and Lustig led LC State with 16 points each and Childs added 14. Both Childs and Skaife made five field goals with four from behind the 3-point line. Lustig was 7-for-11 from the field. Suber added 12 points and Nordland scored 10.
Hunt led the defense with nine rebounds, Nordland and Suber each grabbed six and Lustig and Salguero each had five. Nordland snagged a career-high three steals and Skaife dished out four assists. The Warriors shared the ball well as Childs, Lustig and Nordland each tallied three assists.
OIT led the game with a 46.4% mark from the field, but LC State held the Owls to just 7.1% from 3-point range at 1-for-14. The Warriors had 18 assists compared to OIT’s nine and drained nine 3-pointers.
