 |
| Oregon Tech head coach Justin Parnell |
By Harry Cummins
(Portland,Oregon) The nation's Number 2 ranked Oregon Tech Owls parlayed six players in double figures, along with 13 assists from national leader Mitchell Fink to overwhelm Multnomah 118-83, as the out-manned Lions played the contest without Justin Martin, the current NAIA D-2 and Cascade Collegiate Conference's leading scorer.
Oregon Tech (13-2,3-2) opened the game with blistering shooting from behind the arc by Seth Erickson, Scotty Burge and Tyler Heib to forge a 51-35 halftime advantage. The Owls shot an identical 54% from the field in each half in recording their highest offensive output of the season.
Heib and Erickson paced the Owls with 17 points each, while the trio of Matt Van Tassell, Harrison Steiger, and Burge all had 14 points. Garret Albrecht collected 11 points and 10 boards to record a double-double performance while Lachlan McKimm pulled down 10 rebounds as well.
Oregon Tech is the nation's number one team in scoring defense and held high-scoring Multnomah (6-7,0-4) well under their average (100.08 ppg) The Lions were missing their leading scorer, Justin Martin, whose absence was not explained.
The Owls suffered a crippling setback of their own early in the second half when Kaison Faust had to leave the game with a serious shoulder injury. Faust, a fast-rising sophomore, was coming off a career high 22 point game in the Owls recent win over Eastern Oregon on December 21. Faust hit 4 of 7 shots in the first half, scoring all 8 of his points and playing lock-step defense on Multnomah's own sophomore sensation, Zach Richardson.
 |
| Dan Johnson photo- Smothering D by Faust on Richardson |
Freshman Jaden Ingram paced Multnomah with a career high 25 points,18 coming in the first half. Richardson, one of top 3 point marksman in the nation, managed 19 points on 5 baskets from long distance. Richardson is 2nd in the CCC in 3 pt baskets made per game, second only to Martin.
Fink's 13 assists were his second highest total this year, second only to the 17 career helpers he registered in his last contest against Eastern Oregon. The two time Player of the Year in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Fink is closing in on the all-time OIT career assists record.
The Hustlin' Owls travel to near-by Warner Pacific Saturday night to take on the Knights, who dropped a close 100-92 game to visiting Southern Oregon Friday. Southern Oregon travels crosstown to Multnomah Sat.night. Once again, Martin is not expected to play for the Lions.
