EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team earned their second top-25 victory of the weekend in dramatic fashion on Saturday night, knocking off the No. 20-ranked Oregon Tech Owls 123-121 in Overtime.
 
Michael Loomis (pictured) had a career night, breaking multiple NCU records as he scored career-highs with 36 points and 22 rebounds to become the first Beacon in program history to register a 30/20 performance. The Beacons as a whole, scored their most points in 31 years.
 
Head Coach Luke Jackson said, "I was very proud of the team spirit and never-say-die attitude we had tonight. I believe that we earned the respect of everyone in the building with our effort. Michael had probably the most memorable performance in the history of the Morse Event Center and possible NCU basketball history tonight and I was thrilled to be a part of it."
 
Loomis' three-pointer with three-seconds remaining in regulation looked to be the game winner, but OIT's Mitchell Fink was credited with a layup as time expired to send the game to overtime, knotted at 110-110. Fink was also a man on a mission, taking over the game as he scored 15 of 17 Owl points over a four-and-a-half minute stretch between regulation and overtime.
 
Oregon Tech built up a four-point lead in the bonus frame, 118-114 but a six-point run for NCU gave them the lead for good and they escaped with the record breaking victory.
 
NCU (8-8, 4-5 CCC) played an efficient 45 minutes, turning the ball over just eight times while their ball movement lead to a .513 shooting effort on the night. Tech held a 55-39 rebound advantage and hit a season-high 64.7 percent of their three-point attempts, but were plagued by 19 turnovers.
 
The first half saw five lead changes and six tie scores, with the two sides trading points in a fast-paced performance. NCU gained the first bit of momentum in the fourteenth minute when Brock Rice hit a three-point shot to give the Beacons a 17-11 lead. The teams traded three's before Tech scored six unanswered to tie the score at 20 with 12:31 on the clock.
 
The score never swayed by more than three points for the next eight minutes of action, when OIT gained the upper hand to the tune of a seven point lead with three and-a-half to go. NCU whittled-away at the deficit and the game went into intermission with OIT up 60-57.
 
The Owls led for the first 17 minutes of the second half, with their lead getting as high as ten points midway through. Clutch shooting and timely free-throws slowly brought the Beacons back into play. Loomis gave the Beacons their first lead of the second half, 100-99, with a pull-up jumper at the 2:17 mark. Rice hit an open trey on the following possession off a turnover to put the Beacons up four with under two minutes to play. Seth Erickson found the bottom of the net with a layup with 0:19 left in action to give the lead back to Tech. Before Loomis sank the late triple.
 
Tyner finished the night with a career-high 25 points, in addition to grabbing five boards and four steals. Rice scored 17, while Tyrus Hosley was the third Beacon reserve in double-figures with 14. Reese Robinson chipped in 13 points, including a 6-8 effort from the charity stripe.
 
Oregon Tech (14-7, 7-4) was led by Fink who scored a career-high 34 points and flirted with a triple-double as he added 11 assists and eight rebounds. Tyler Heib scored 26 points and had two steals while Seth Erickson netted 25 points including 21 in the first half as he shot 5-for-5 from three-point range.
 
The Beacons are back in the Morse Event Center next weekend and will host their third consecutive Top-25 opponent on Friday, January 19 against No. 8 College of Idaho. Oregon Tech returns to Klamath Falls and will take on Northwest University on Friday as well. Both contests are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.