PORTLAND, Ore. - Ben DeSaulnier sank a running 18 foot shot at the final buzzer to send Southern Oregon to a 78-76 win over Warner Pacific tonight at Bart Valentine Court. 

The Short Story
 
It was another classic battle between the Knights and Raiders, with the outcome decided on the last posession. Tied at 76 with 5.5 seconds to play, the 15th-ranked Raiders fed DeSaulnier out of a timeout. He dribbled the length of the floor, split the defense, leaned in and threw a 17-footer off the backboard as time expired, giving SOU a pivotal 78-76 win.

Warner Pacific made 18 of 32 shot attempts in the first half including seven of 13 makes from behind the arc on the way to a 47-40 lead at the break. Taylor Young was rolling in the opening 20 minutes, tossing in 18 points.

SOU was never out of it however, and tied the game for the first time in the second half at 55-55 on Justin Martin's 3-pointer with 10:41 remaining.

The teams fought back and forth until the final minute when Joel Spear was fouled near midcourt with 27 seconds left, and he converted both free throws to put the Raiders up 76-74.

After the Knights came up empty on the next possession, Clay Sierra missed a pair of free throws to give WP a chance to tie or go ahead with 11 seconds on the clock to make it happen.

Earl Jones came up with a short runner that banked home to tie the game once again, but the Raiders had 5.5 seconds remaining which set up the heroics from DeSaulnier.

Young finished with 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting to lead the Knights. Collin Malcolm had nine points and 10 boards, and De'Jon Bowman had 12 points and 12 rebounds.