ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University men's basketball team continued to close in on a spot in the NAIA tournament last weekend with a 69-67 win at Oregon Tech that bumped the Raiders up one spot to No. 14 in the national rankings.

The safest thing to do with the regular season wrapping up Friday at Warner Pacific (14-14 overall, 8-8 Cascade Conference) and Saturday at Concordia (21-7, 10-6)? Just keep winning.

SOU (22-6, 11-5) can lock up the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, ensuring homecourt advantage through at least the semifinals, by completing season sweeps of both teams – or with a win Friday paired with a Concordia loss to Oregon Tech. The Raiders have already secured a top-four seed, meaning they'll be at home for the quarterfinal round next Wednesday night.

The Raiders defeated Concordia (79-65) on Dec. 6 and Warner Pacific on Dec. 7 (95-67) during the CCC's opening weekend in Ashland. Both Portland schools are at the tail end of schedules, tweaked by snow, that have them playing six games in the regular season's final two weeks.

SOU hasn't been at Warner Pacific since they lost last year's CCC tournament championship game on the Knights' home floor, 67-63. The Raiders have lost four straight at WPC – all by four points or less, and with two overtimes included – but these Knights, who lost 70-66 Tuesday against Corban, are tied for sixth in the standings and looking at the possibility of finishing outside of the top four for the first time since 2004-05.

Junior forward Doug Thomas posts 16.6 points per game, and guard Ryan Parks has made 46 3-pointers in league play to average 12.3. Through the same number of games (16), Josh Black trails SOU point guard Jeff Bush (West Linn, Ore./West Linn)'s league-high of 102 assists by one, giving him an average of 6.3. Their signature zone defense is allowing just 70.9 points, which is second in the league, but the Raiders got to it with 12 3-pointers and 33-for-63 shooting the first time around.

"Everything starts with how you attack their zone," Raiders head coach Brian McDermott said. "At some point you're going to have to make shots, but I think you have to get the ball inside some, too, so you're not living and dying with the 3. And defensively, you have to contain Parks and take care of the defensive glass, because they're a very good offensive-rebounding team."

Concordia dropped out of the rankings after last Saturday's overtime loss at Evergreen but bounced back Tuesday with an 83-67 win against Northwest Christian. The Cavaliers continue to be the most volatile group in the conference, averaging 84.4 points but allowing 78.8.

Cavs senior forward Adam Herman has tormented SOU with averages of 19.5 points on 65-percent shooting and 8 rebounds in eight games during his career – including a 32-point effort in December. He's scored at least 30 nine times this year and, at an average of 25.3 in CCC play, is complemented by Willy Ligon's 13.6 points. They also have the leading rebounder in the league, Esvan Middleton, who posts 11.1 per outing.

"They're as good of an offensive team as there is at our level and they certainly have one of the best players," McDermott said. "We can't let them play free and easy or get comfortable out in transition."

The Raiders have won five of their last six against Concordia, including four in a row in Portland.

SOU NOTES: Eric Thompson (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) and David Sturner (Philomath, Ore./Philomath) combined for 42 points and 22 rebounds last weekend at Oregon Tech, exceeding their combined CCC averages of 34.0 and 16.6. Thanks to their efforts, SOU has only been outscored in the paint twice during conference play. … With 191 assists, Jeff Bush (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) is 10 away from setting SOU's single-season record. He's also posting 9.6 points on 53-percent shooting and 5.1 rebounds in conference play. … Jordan West (Gymea Bay, Australia/Port Hacking) scored 10 key points off the bench at OIT, making the Raiders 8-1 when he scores in double figures. … With two wins, the Raiders will match the 1947-48 SOU team for the most ever in a regular season.