Oregon Tech - Men's Basketball

Last Year Oregon Tech was a Perfect 18-0 at Danny Miles Court and set a New Paid Attendance Record of Just Under 45,000 (Photo by Kelly Caleb)

2008-09 Season Review

After coming off a national championship in 2008, The Oregon Tech men’s basketball team put together another magnificent season in 2009.  The Owls finished tied for first place (15-5) in the Cascade Conference standings, sharing a conference championship with Eastern Oregon.  The Owls held the tiebreaker, and as a result, headed to the postseason as the CCC tournaments number-one seed.  Tech hosted all three playoff games, beating Corban College in the quarterfinals, Northwest Christian in the semifinals and Evergreen State in the finals.  With the three wins, Oregon Tech finished their regular season home schedule undefeated (18-0) for the first time since the 1986-87 season.  The 2009 CCC Tournament title earned the Owls an automatic berth to the NAIA Division II tournament in Point Lookout, MO.  At the NAIA Division II tournament, the seventh-seeded Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls handed Iowa Wesleyan College a 69-47 defeat in first round action.  The Owls then advanced to the tournaments “Sweet 16” for the twelfth time. In a rematch of last years tournament finals, versus Bellevue (Neb.), the Owls were unable to overcome a cold shooting effort and fell to the Bruins, 78-64, ending their bid for back-to-back national championships.   Tech finished the season with an overall 29-6 record, while also maintaining an NAIA top-10 ranking the entire season.  Their win in game one of the NAIA tournament gave the Owls the record for most games won at the national championships with 26 (26-8).  Oregon Tech has also advanced to the national championship 11 times and is a perfect 11-0 in first round games.  Jguwon Hogges and Justin Parnell were CCC 1^st team all-conference selections, while Christian Cavanaugh was named to the CCC honorable mention team.  Hogges was also selected to the CCC all-defensive team, while Parnell was named the CCC Newcomer of the Year.Cascade Collegiate Conference all-academic team selections went to Myles Daley (Jr. Medford, OR), Nate Lewis (Sr. Culver, OR), Mike Nieraeth (Bonanza, OR), Will Sargent (So. Klamath Falls, OR) and Scott Snodgrass (So. Buckley, WA).Danny Miles moved up to sixth on the all-time basketball wins list, tied with Adolph Rupp, with 876 wins in his 38^th season with the Owls.National awards went to Jguwon Hogges who became the Owls’ sixth player to be named to the 1^st team NAIA All-American squad.  Justin Parnell was selected NAIA honorable mention All-American.  Both Mike Nieraeth and Nate Lewis were named NAIA Academic All-American scholar athletes.

2008-09 CCC Newcomer of the Year Justin Parnell will Lead the 2009-10 Hustlin' Owls

2009-10 Outlook

Tech will lose five seniors off the 2008-09 team, returning only two starters to the hardwood next season.  The Owls will have good experience off the bench, but will need to replace both Josh Wetzler and Christian Cavanaugh who gave the Owls scoring, rebounding and defense inside and Tech’s top scorer and defender in Jguwon Hogges.  Still look for Tech to be one of the coach’s favorites to win a league title and make another return trip to the NAIA Division II tournament next season.