By Harry Cummins
Unable to find a defensive answer for Puget Sound guard Paul Johnson, the Multnomah University Lions dropped a winnable game in overtime to the Loggers 97-86 Friday night at Memorial Fieldhouse in Tacoma.
With the contest knotted at 80, the Lions turned the ball over with .05 seconds left in regulation to send the game to an extra session, where Johnson proceeded to score 10 of his game and career- high 32 points to seal the win for the NCAA D-3 school.
Tyrese Taylor led the Lions with 25 points and 9 rebounds, including back-to-back put backs that allowed the NAIA club to claw back from an 11 point halftime deficit and take an 80-77 lead with 2:30 remaining in the contest. Taylor had scored the game's first 9 points in handing Multnomah a quick lead from the opening tip, vitalizing the upset aspirations of the visitors.
Freshman Will Pohland scored 21 points for the winners, including a pair of 3 pointers in overtime, while Jaeden Ingram had 17 and Zach Richardson 16 points in defeat. Neyland Block of the Lions narrowly missed a double-double night with 8 points and 8 rebounds while teammate Terin Johnson added 9 points on 3 of 5 shooting. Puget Sound's Mussie Teclemarian led all rebounders in the game with 15 as the Loggers won the battle of the boards 53-43.
The loss was Multnomah's first of the season, following a resounding 122-60 win at home to open the year. The 122 points were the most tallied in a single game by any team in the NAIA this season.
Multnomah returns home for a pair of non-conference games next week, before meeting another NCAA foe in Pacific University for back-to-back contests on Nov 12-13. In 2018, these same two teams hooked up to produce one of the great games in small college basketball history as they combined for a record 271 points, including an NAIA record 38 made 3's by Multnomah.
hcummins@aol.com
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