Box Score ASHLAND, Ore – Southern Oregon caught fire from three-point range to open the second half with back-to-back-to-back treys as the Raiders turned a close game into a 17-point lead en route to a 97-82 upset of sixth-ranked Warner Pacific in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball contest Friday night at Bob Riehm Arena.
The Raiders made their first six three-pointers of the second period and sunk eight of their first nine attempts from beyond the arc after halftime to lead by as many as 21 points. Southern Oregon ends a three-game skid and improves to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play, while Warner Pacific sees its nine-game win streak come to an end and falls to 18-5 overall and 9-2 in the CCC. Both teams return to action Saturday night, with Southern Oregon hosting Concordia and Warner Pacific taking on Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls.
Even missing five of their final six three-point attempts in the game, the Raiders shot a scorching 57.1 percent from beyond the arc (16-of-28) in the contest. Southern Oregon made 53.2 percent of its shots in the game (33-of-62), while Warner Pacific shot 48.3 percent from the field (28-of-58). The Raiders out-rebounded the Knights 38-25 and finished with a 25-15 assist advantage in the win.
David Sturner (Philomath, Ore./Philomath) led the way for the Raiders with a 21-point, 15-rebound performance on only seven shot attempts. Sturner made five of his seven shots, including all three from beyond the arc, and finished the game 8-of-10 at the free throw line. He also added three assists and two steals. Kyle Tedder (Coos Bay, Ore./Marshfield) scored a team-high 24 points on the strength of six three-pointers, while Taylor Roos (Salem, Ore./Sprague) finished with 17 points and Eric Thompson (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) tallied 15 points and seven rebounds. Tim Weber (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) and Jordan West (Gymea Bay, Australia/Port Hacking) each added 10 points.
Stephen Harris scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to post a double-double for Warner Pacific.
Coletun Tarr finished with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and
Doug Thomas tallied 18 points in the loss.
The first half featured seven tie scores and six lead changes, as the Raiders built an early 11-6 lead before Warner Pacific scored the next six points to take its first lead of the game. The Knights never led by more than three points, and in the final minutes of the period SOU offered a brief glimpse of what was to come in the second half. In the final 4:35 of the opening period, SOU outscored Warner Pacific 11-2 on the strength of two three-pointers by Weber and one by Sturner.
A pair of Tedder treys sandwiched a Thompson three in the first 90 seconds of the second period as the Raiders jumped ahead by 17. Following a Warner Pacific timeout, Harris made a three-pointer to seemingly end the SOU run, but the Raiders scored on each of their next three possessions, including threes by Sturner and Tedder.
By the time Southern Oregon missed a three-pointer midway through the second period, the Raiders had made nine consecutive attempts from beyond the arc stretching back to the first half. Meanwhile, the Knights pulled as close as 10 points back following back-to-back threes of their own, but seven straight SOU points pushed the lead back to a comfortabled 71-54 with just under 11 minutes to play.
Warner Pacific continued to battle and pulled within 12 at 73-61 before a 12-3 SOU run gave the Raiders their largest lead of the game at 85-64 with 6:23 to play. The Knights continued to show the resolve of a top-10 team by scoring 11 of the next 13 points to again pull within 12 with 2:28 remaining. Southern Oregon held strong the rest of the way, making seven of its final eight free throw attempts to stifle any hopes of a Knight comeback.
