The Multnomah Men's Basketball Team was back on the road again after three straight home games. As they continue to battle for a spot in the playoff, every game seems to more significant as the conference schedule comes to a close. The Lions battled on the road against Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon.
In the first day of the road trip, MU faced the Owls of Oregon Tech, who currently sit right next to them in the CCC standing. On this day, it was all Oregon Tech. The Lions never seemed to find their footing offensively, the Owls got off to a 21-6 start and never looked back. The Owls were led in the point category by bench player Jay Elmore with 17 points and 15 of those coming from three. The Owls had three other starters over 10 points and Kody Bauman had an impressive 9 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks to go with it.
For the Lions it was also a player coming off the bench, Quinten Jones, who shined on this day. He finished with 20 points on four 3's. The only other Lion with double digit points was
Tyrese Taylor with 10. The Lions struggled to get any three to land as they went 9-37 on the day. The Owls were dominant on the boards, bringing in 67 rebounds compared to MU's 42, giving them the edge in the rebound category and ultimately the game overall. The game finished with OIT leading 87-58.
The Lions, the next day, were hoping for a bounce back game against the Raiders of Southern Oregon, who they already beat at home earlier this season. However, much was the same for the Lions as the previous evening. The Lions kept the game close at first, but in the closing moments of the first half, the Raiders extended their lead to 12. The result was much the same in the second half, as halfway through the second, the lead was now 25 for SOU. Unable to stop them defensively, the Raiders had four players in double digits and Will Graves had a game leading 20 points. Impressively, Josh Meyer finished the night with a triple-double on 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Neyland Block led the way with 19 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds: falling just short of a triple-double again.
Tyrese Taylor also contributed offensively with 15 points, but production elsewhere was tough to find on this night as the Lions fell to the Raiders 94-67.
The Lions are looking forward to two straight weekends back at home as the win-loss column begins to matter more and more with only six games remaining on the schedule. First comes the toughest of the weekends as they face the current top 2 teams in the conference. They take on Eastern Oregon on Friday at 7:30pm and the NAIA's number one team, College of Idaho on Saturday at 5pm.
