PORTLAND, Ore. – Warner Pacific held off a hard charging Oregon Tech team and earned a key Cascade Conference win in front of a capacity crowd at home tonight by the score of 86-78.
 
The host Knights led by 13 at halftime, and enjoyed a 64-53 lead with 9:04 to play in the game after a Brandon Bell layup.
 
OIT rallied and cut the deficit to as few as two points after Zach Bernards drilled a three pointer to make the score 75-73 with 1:53 on the clock.
 
Morris Bethea came alive at that point, driving for a tough runner and foul, and then canning a trey to put the Knights over the top.
 
Xavier Cannefax led WPU with 24 points on nine of 18 shooting, while Bethea (13), Keaton Bankofier (11), De'Jon Bowman (10) and Brandon Bell (10) added double figure scoring. Collin Malcolm had a quiet scoring night, but contributed a career high eight assists.
 
Zach Bernards came off the bench to lead the Owls with 21 points, including four three pointers. Tyler Hieb added 20 points.