KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Northwest fell into an early hole and nearly climbed out before falling 94-75 at Oregon Tech on Saturday.
 
Cascade Collegiate Conference-leading Oregon Tech hit eight of its first nine shots to take a 19-3 lead while the Eagles went 1-5 with three turnovers in the first 4:30 of the game. 
 
Over the next 10 minutes, the Eagles cut the lead to 31-30 when Rayvaughn Bolton scored his ninth point in that span, ending with 5:21 left in the half. Oregon Tech finished strong for a 48-37 lead at the half. Kellen Gerig had 21 first-half points on 10 of 11 shooting for the Owls.
 
NU got as close as five points on two occasions in the second half, including a personal 5-2 run by Tanner Davis to make it a 62-57 game with 11:44 to play.
 
"Our guys gave great effort all weekend long, and I'm very proud of that," said NU Head Coach Jeff Drinkwine. "Against an obviously strong Oregon Tech team, we got down 12-0, and that's a lot to overcome. We chipped away and chipped away, but we had some areas in which we didn't do well tonight. But we're growing and getting stronger."
 
Davis led five Eagles in double-figure scoring with 16 points. Connor Drinkwine added 14 points, followed by CaCoa Chatman with 13 and Rayvaughn Bolton and Daniel Sharpe with 10 apiece. 
 
Chatman added five steals and shared the assists lead with Bolton with three each. Carson Sparks led the rebounding effort with five.
 
Oregon Tech got 35 points from Gerig and out-rebounded the Eagles 46-23 while shooting 60 percent from the field.
 
Now 9-11 overall and 6-9 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the Eagles travel to Evergreen State for a 7:30 p.m. contest in Olympia on Tuesday.