Klamath Falls, Ore. | With nothing to lose, a chip on their shoulders, and enough motivation to run their entire way from Portland to Klamath Falls if given the chance, the #7-seeded Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (15-16, 10-12) stormed into Danny Miles Court and shocked the conference by upsetting the #2-seeded Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls (21-10, 18-5) Wednesday night in front of the OIT faithful, 85-76.
 
Following the conclusion of the game, Knights' Head Coach Jamayne Potts immediately gave the credit to his team and his staff, sharing "I'm extremely proud of our team tonight. Everyone from the players to the coaching staff were extremely focused this week in preparation for this game."
 
"After getting beat pretty badly down here two weeks ago, we believed if we corrected our errors from the first game and played well tonight, we could come out of here with a playoff win," Coach Potts went on to say.
 
"Even when we got down early in the first half, we refused to lose our confidence. We had great contribution from everyone. This win tonight is exactly what you would refer to as a 'team win'," said an extremely satisfied Coach Potts.
 
Things most definitely didn't start off on the right foot for the Knights, as Oregon Tech scored the first seven points on the evening to put Warner Pacific in a quick 0-7 hole they needed to dig out of, as visions of their previous contest at Danny Miles Court just two weeks ago started to creep in for Knights fans. Coach Potts quickly called timeout to corral his team before this the wheels completely fell off just a minute and 15 seconds into their Quarterfinal matchup.
 
It certainly did not get easier following the early timeout for the Knights, as Warner Pacific would go on to equal what the Owls scored in the first minute and a half by the 14:34 mark, but not before OIT had stretched the lead all the way to 13 points, forcing yet another timeout from Coach Potts.
 
However, this timeout would prove to contain the exact dialogue the Knights needed in order to kick it up another gear, as WPU outscored OIT 31-19 over the remainder of the first half, down just one point with a final possession falling into the hands of Knights' senior guard Isaac Etter.
 
Etter rebounded the ball on an Oregon Tech missed field goal with just over four seconds remaining on the clock, raced across half court, went to throw up a three-point attempt at the horn, and had his legs cut out from underneath him. Whistles were blown, and Etter found himself at the free-throw line with 0.1 on the game clock. He hits all three shots from the charity stripe, and the Knights found themselves in a rare 41-39 road lead at the halftime horn.
 
The second half started just as the first half ended, with a Warner Pacific three-point attempt, this time from the hot-handed junior guard Thomas Miles, who hit back-to-back three-pointers to stretch the Knights lead to eight points in exactly the same amount of time OIT took an early seven point lead to open the first half.
 
Miles scored or assisted on the first 10 points scored by the Knights to open the second half, yet the Owls continued to hang tight in front of their home fans, friends, and family. With just over 1,000 people on the campus of Oregon Tech tonight, the Knights were certainly outnumbered off the court.
 
On the court, however, Warner Pacific played as if they outnumbered Oregon Tech 6-5, as the Knights continued to force the Owls into awkward shot attempts and unnecessary extra passes, which resulted in a 14-5 turnover margin in favor of WPU for the entire contest. The closest the Owls would come to reclaiming the lead was at the 7:46 mark, when OIT guard Scotty Burge hit a deep three-pointer to make it a 60-59 contest.
 
Oregon Tech's second half comeback attempt stopped short there, as the Knights scored the next seven points to re-extend their lead, and create yet another stressful situation for the hometown fans.
 
A jump shot and three free throws later, and the Owls made it a one possession game once again, with under six minutes remaining in the game. But yet again, the Knights rattled of seven straight points, and Oregon Tech stumbled time and time again down the court in an attempt to start a scoring run with little time remaining.
 
Only four points were scored in total by both teams over the next four minutes, as missed field goal attempts and turnovers ran abundantly up to the two minute mark, resulting in a four point lead for Warner Pacific at the 1:42 minute mark.
 
After an Etter layup and a foul from Knights' senior forward Darius Traylor, Oregon Tech was forced to foul in order to put WPU at the free-throw line, in hopes of missed one-and-one opportunities to crawl back into this contest. However, since the Owls had fouled only twice in the entire second half, the Knights were able to waste about 10 seconds of game clock from just receiving intentional fouls, a crucial 10 seconds that OIT would never see again.
 
Traylor and senior forward Kaleb Tompkins both split a pair of free-throws to start the intentional fouling brigade, but since the Owls were unable to convert on their end, the Knights just kept shooting free-throws to play out the final minute of regulation, and walk out of Klamath Falls with a nine point upset victory.
 
Miles led all players in scoring with 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting, most notably hitting five three-pointers and adding seven rebounds on the night coming off the bench. Tompkins showed up when it mattered the most for the Knights, as he scored a season-high 19 points and added a pair of rebounds and assists in nearly a complete game for Coach Potts and Warner Pacific.
 
Owls' forward Joey Potts scored a team-high 13 points in a reserve role before fouling out late in the second half, securing six rebounds and a pair of blocks along the way. Burge finished with 12 points and five assists, tying Warner Pacific's sophomore guard Tyrese Yussuf-Willis for the game-high in dimes (5).
 
With the victory tonight, Warner Pacific Men's Basketball now heads to Caldwell, Idaho for the Semifinals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament, where they will play the #1-seeded College of Idaho Yotes, who earlier defeated the #8-seeded Multnomah University Lions in their own Quarterfinal matchup. The Knights' Semifinal showdown with the Yotes is slated to start at 7pm MT, Saturday, February 26^th.