PORTLAND, Ore. - In one of the most competitive and entertaining games of the Cascade Collegiate Conference season, it was Oregon Tech who ultimately outlasted Multnomah, narrowly coming out on top by a score of 78-70. Graduate guard Kam Osborn capped off the win for the visitors with his 1,000 point for OIT (12-3, 8-1), becoming just the 39th player to do so.

"Going into this game we knew it was going to be a battle, and it lived up to the hype," shared head coach Tayo Gem. "We dug ourselves a huge hole at the start of the game, as OIT was ready to go from the jump, but after we settled down, we made it as competitive as it was advertised. We continue to focus on 'getting better at being us' and that's exactly what we did, regardless of the scoreboard. OIT is the complete package of what a top national tournament team looks like and I'm proud of our team and how we showed ourselves that we can be contenders. We continue to thrive to improve on our flaws and the goals is to continually grow towards reaching our full potential."

The entire game was a battle, with the visitors extending their lead to as much as 13 in the first half. An impressive night from Kadeem Nelson helped keep the Lions (11-4, 7-3) in the contest, with a bucket from the senior guard in the final seconds of the first half cutting the Hustlin' Owls' lead to just five heading into the halftime break.

A free throw from junior forward Noah McCord cut the visitor's lead to just one with about four minutes remaining in the contest, but that was the closest that Multnomah would come to taking the lead for the duration of the game. Keegan Shivers sank six free throws in the final two minutes of the contest, sealing the win for OIT.

Nelson had his most impressive game of the season tonight, scoring a team-high and season-high 21 points off the bench. Marje Windfield and Braedon Edison rounded out the scoring for Multnomah, tallying 13 points and 12 points respectively. McCord yet again matched his season-high of 13 rebounds, while Keilan Torkornoo pulled in rebounds of his own.

Multnomah will look to bounce back on the road next weekend as they travel to take on the College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon University.