Thompson
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Eric Thompson led SOU on Friday with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
72
Evergreen State ESCM 3-10,0-6
105
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 15-3, 5-2
Evergreen State ESCM
3-10,0-6
72
Final
105
Southern Oregon SOU
15-3, 5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Evergreen State ESCM 35 37 72
Southern Oregon SOU 61 44 105

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | SOU Sports Information

No. 11 Raiders drill Evergreen with 72.5-percent shooting

ASHLAND – There aren't many ways to raise a team's shooting percentage by a full point in one night nearly 20 games into a season, but the Southern Oregon men's basketball team discovered one of them in Friday's 105-72 win over Evergreen at Riehm Arena.

Led by Eric Thompson (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg)'s 25 points and 10 rebounds, the 11th-ranked Raiders (15-3 overall, 5-2 Cascade Conference) kept the Geoducks (3-10, 0-6) in a daze for 40 minutes by busting their zone with the cleanest shooting percentage in Brian McDermott's 19 years as head coach – 72.5 percent from the field (37-for-51), including a 13-for-21 clip from 3-point range.

SOU was off the mark on just three of its 23 attempts in the first half, going 12-for-12 from inside the 3-point line.

The Raiders are tied for first place and one of five teams in the conference with two losses heading into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. home matchup with Northwest (Wash.), which lost 64-62 on Friday at Oregon Tech.

Thompson went 9-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from downtown. He was joined by four other Raiders in double figures: Jacob Kaler (Camas, Wash./Camas Valley) (17), Ben DeSaulnier (Philomath, Ore./Philomath) (14), Kenny Meyer (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs) (10) and Jordan West (Gymea Bay, Australia/Port Hacking) (10).

The Raider bench drilled eight of 12 attempts from outside as DeSaulnier, Meyer and Justin Martin (Central Point, Ore./Crater) hit two apiece. DeSaulnier added five assists and three boards, Meyer had three assists and West tallied four rebounds and three assists.

Thirty-two of SOU's 37 makes were assisted.

Tim Weber (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg), the second-leading assist man in the NAIA, led the way in that department with 10 dimes to go with his nine points on 4-for-5 shooting. Joel Spear (Adelaide, Australia/St. Michaels) chipped in six points and five assists.

Weber found Thompson for 3-pointers on three straight possessions in the game's opening segment, giving SOU an 11-5 edge. Evergreen went ahead 17-15 before the Raiders ended the first half on a 46-18 run.

SOU reached the 100-point mark when Alex Miller (Central Point, Ore./Cascade Christian) and Martin made consecutive 3-pointers with 1:52 left. The point total was SOU's highest of the season.

The only other time the Raiders have approached an equivalent shooting percentage as a team in recent history was when they hit 68.5 percent (37-for-54) of their shots in a 96-89 win at Fresno Pacific on Nov. 3, 2011. Thompson had 34 points in that, his second game as a Raider.

Marquise Doss scored 17 to lead Evergreen, while Jordan Dam had 16 points and four assists. The Geoducks shot 40 percent from the field.

SOU has won seven straight in the head-to-head series.
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