KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The Walla Walla Men's Basketball team took a lead into halftime against (RV) Oregon Tech, but lost 93-67 in a Cascade Conference game on Friday at Danny Miles Court
The Wolves drop to 2-13 overall and 1-10 in CCC play.

Sophomore Thomas Mestrov had a career-high 25 points for Walla Walla on 8-of-12 shooting and made five 3-pointers in the contest. Dillon Wasser added 12 points and Andrew Vaughan finished with 11.

Mestrov led the Wolves with seven rebounds, Soren Dalan had four assists and Steele Twiford executed three steals.

Walla Walla shot lights out in the first half. The Wolves were 16-of-27 (59.3%) in the first half with seven 3s. The basket shrunk in the second half as the Owls played tight defense and made it difficult on WWU.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mestrov got the scoring started with a 3-pointer. Vaughan added a 3 of his own and then scored inside and the Wolves had an early 8-3 lead. Mestrov made another from beyond the arc and Wasser got into the scorebook with a jumper.

Oregon Tech battled back to tie the game at 13. Vaughan made a pair of free throws, Mestrov hit his third 3-pointer and Wasser connected from beyond the arc on an 8-0 WWU run. After a basket by the Owls, Dalan hit a jumper and Mestrov scored inside. The Wolves led 25-15 with 10:14 left in the first half.

The Owls scored 17 of the next 23 points and had a one point advantage. Wasser regained the lead for WWU with a 3 and extended it with two more made jumpers. Mestrov made it a 10-0 Walla Walla run with his fourth 3 of the half. OIT scored the final eight points, but the Wolves led by one at the break.

The second half did not start the way that WWU wanted as Oregon Tech scored the first seven points. Mestrov ended the run with a 3 and Vaughan scored inside to cut the OIT lead to three. The Owls would push the lead to 16 before Dalan scored inside for Walla Walla. The Wolves trailed 64-50 with 12:33 to go.

Mestov made a pair of shots inside, Vaughan connected on a 3-pointer and Dalan scored. Oregon Tech extended the lead to 21 with 5:40 to go. Vaughan made another jumper, Mestrov was successful on a pair of free throws, Twiford hit a jumper and Chike Ezeonu tipped one in to close out the scoring for the Wolves.

UP NEXT

The Wolves will complete the road trip to Oregon with a tough test against No. 4 Southern Oregon in Ashland, Ore. at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.