ASHLAND, Ore. – Given a third chance, De'Jon Bowman and Taylor Young made sure that 16th-ranked Warner Pacific finally put away 14th-ranked Southern Oregon in resounding fashion Saturday night at Mountain Avenue Gym.

The third-seeded Knights dealt the second-seeded Raiders their first home loss of the season, 97-80 in the semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank, and advanced to play at top-seeded Northwest Christian in Tuesday's title game.

Bowman went 11-of-13 for a game-high 26 points – most of which were of the momentum-crushing variety on put-backs and in transition – and also pulled down 10 rebounds. Young, a senior transfer who has turned into a CCC player-of-the-year candidate in his first season with the Knights, recorded 14 of his 22 points and five of his seven assists after halftime to help WPC shoot 22-of-35 in the second half.

The Raiders dropped to 24-8 overall but are still likely to receive an at-large bid to the national tournament when the field is announced on Wednesday; the final at-large bid has been awarded to the No. 25 team in the rankings the last two seasons. And if WPC (23-8) doesn't snag the CCC's second automatic bid with a win Tuesday, it will go to SOU.

The Knights remained one of the hottest teams in the country, winning their ninth straight since Ben DeSaulnier got them with a buzzer-beater for a 78-76 Raiders win on Jan. 29 in Portland after they trailed by nine points with eight minutes to play. On Dec. 31 in Ashland, the Raiders defeated the Knights 92-90 by erasing an 18-point deficit in the second half.

WPC staked to a 43-32 lead at the break by ending the first half on a 33-12 run. But the Raiders appeared to be heading down a similar path in the second, cutting the deficit to 43-39 on Joel Spear's 3-pointer just 80 seconds into the half.

Up 55-49, the Knights began to pull away with a 13-2 spurt that included two three-point plays by Bowman and a jumper by Young, and was capped by Keaton Bankofier's 3-pointer that made it 68-51 with 11:54 left.

The lead eventually ballooned to 25 points after consecutive buckets from Xavier Cannefax, who scored 11 of his 13 points off the bench in the second half.

Earl Jones added 15 points and seven assists. The Knights shot 41-of-71 from the field and were 35-of-51 inside the 3-point line.

DeSaulnier's 21 points led the Raiders, who also got 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists from Jordan West. Kenny Meyer chipped in 10 points and four assists, and Joel Spear went for seven points, eight assists, and seven boards.

After going 19-of-41 from 3-point range in the first two meetings, SOU was just 3-of-13 this time around against the Knights' zone defense.

The game was a rematch of last year's semifinals, which SOU won at WPC after being swept in the regular-season series.

The Raiders finished their home slate with a record of 13-1.


Story courtesy of SOU sports information