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Nate Boakye layup with 23 seconds to play was needed to send The Master's men's basketball game against the Oregon Tech Owls into overtime.
But it was the Owls that played like a hoot in the extra period, defeating the Mustangs 94-90 in the first game of the Fultz Memorial Classic hosted by Arizona Christian University in Glendale, Ariz.
Boakye's heroics tied the game at 79-79, But Oregon Tech outscored TMU (3-2) 15-11 in the extra period to get the 4-point win.
"Oregon Tech is a storied program and it's always good to play these higher level games to see where you're at," said TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "Obviously we are disappointed with the loss. There were a lot of good things but also a lot of things we need to work on. There are things we need to learn about what we can control and what we can't. So we need to focus on ourselves. I think this is a really good team, but we need to learn from these losses."
The game was a back-and-forth battle from the tip. The first half saw the teams tied seven times, with neither side getting more than a 5-point lead. Oregon Tech held a 37-35 lead at the break.
The second half started out better for the Owls, gradually increasing their lead until it was 62-52 with 10:57 to play.
But then the Mustangs snapped out of it.
TMU went on a 14-3 run in the next 3:54 of game time to take the lead 66-65.
The Owls wrestled control of the momentum back, grabbing the lead and extending it to 79-73 with 2:22 left.
That's when Boakye came to the rescue, scoring the next six points to give the crowd bonus basketball.
But Oregon Tech jumped out to an 89-82 lead just 2:33 into the overtime period and held off the Mustangs's late stampede to give TMU their second loss of the young season.
Quincy Phillips led the way for the Mustangs with 28 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Boakye finished with 19 and led the team with four assists.
Parker Tuttle added 12 and
Tiago Soares 11.
The Master's will be back on the court Saturday at 1 p.m. when they take on Corban (OR) University in the final game of the Fultz Memorial Classic.
"We've got to bounce back and play a really good Corban team that gave ACU a run for their money," Starr said.
