Judson falls short to Oregon Tech

The Judson men's basketball team gave No. 2 seed Oregon Tech all it could handle in the opening round of the NAIA Division II National Tournament Wednesday before falling 63-57.

The Eagles, who opened the season 1-10 before making a remarkable turnaround that culminated in their second tournament berth in three seasons, finished the season 17-13.

Jimmy Kuban led Judson with 14 points, sophomore guard Landon Skinner scored 11, sophomore guard Josh Edwards finished with 10 points and senior forward Ben Rayhorn ended his career with a 9-point game.

"They did their jobs and they competed," Judson coach Tony Tompkins said. "You can't ask for anything more than that."

The Eagles fell behind by 20 points in the first half against Oregon Tech (30-4) but were able to cut the deficit to 9 points at halftime. Judson rallied to take the lead with six minutes to go and led by 5 points late in the game.

"We just had a couple of shots go in and out and they made a couple of tough shots," Tompkins said. "It was a 1-point game with two minutes to go and they ended up making a play. That was kind of the game. The guys played really hard. We had our chances."