The Otters led 29-24 at the half and had the lead most of the night.  The Tigers grabbed the lead with eight minutes to play and the two teams exchanged leads down the stretch.  Tech broke a 47-47 tie when Tate Caldwell buried a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds to play.  Dominic Aguilar was fouled with 1.3 seconds remaining on a drive to the basket, putting the sophomore at the free throw line for two shots.  After making his first free throw, Tech took a time out.  Following the time out, Aguilar missed the second free throw and the Tigers escaped with a win in a highly competitive contest.

Caldwell had a huge night for Tech, scoring 22 points and making 8-of-9 from the line.  Jared Yeager added 17 for the home team.

Aguilar finished with 11 points and 5 assists. He was one of three players in double figures as Ethan Olson led the Otters with 17 and Nic Pearson contributed a dozen.  Olson also had 4 boards.  Cody Norgren provided solid play off the bench with 5 rebounds and 3 assists and Parker Jacobs pulled down 4 rebounds.

"Our effort was terrific tonight," commented Head Coach Matt Johnson of the Otters.  "The next step is to play a bit smarter.  A stretch of second half turnovers really hurt us tonight.  Some opportunities are available for kids to step up and increase their roles with Matt out.  I thought Ethan, Nic and Dom all did that at times tonight, but we need more consistency from the entire group.  A great learning experience for our team tonight, and one to use moving forward."

The Otters close out their pre-Christmas schedule with a non-conference contest Thursday at Moorhead.