desaulnier
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
99
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 11-3, 4-0
91
Northwest University NU 6-9, 2-3
Winner
Southern Oregon SOU
11-3, 4-0
99
Final
91
Northwest University NU
6-9, 2-3
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 OT 2 F
Southern Oregon SOU 28 39 14 18 99
Northwest University NU 31 36 14 10 91

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

West, Raiders prevail in double-OT at Northwest to stay perfect in CCC

KIRKLAND, Wash. – At some point, tardy starts and hectic finishes will probably catch up with the 10th-ranked Southern Oregon men's basketball team. But senior forward Jordan West made sure it wasn't Sunday afternoon after two overtimes at Northwest University.

West scored a career-high 38 points, including 29 after halftime on 11-of-13 shooting, and the Raiders came back to narrowly escape with another Cascade Conference victory, 99-91 over the Eagles. With a 4-0 CCC record, the Raiders (11-3 overall) are locked into a first-place tie with Warner Pacific and will break until hosting Multnomah and WPC on Dec. 30 and 31.

Playing from behind for most of the second half, the Raiders faced their largest deficit when Ben Tucakovic's 3-pointer put Northwest up 62-52 with 4:32 left in regulation. SOU needed just over two minutes to tie it with 10 unanswered points: West started a 15-2 run with a 3 and ended it with another, giving the Raiders a 65-64 lead with 58 seconds remaining. Tucakovic answered with a triple of his own, and West's free throws with 31 seconds left forced the first overtime.

SOU started the session with six straight points, capped by Clay Sierra's emphatic fast-break jam. Down 80-75, Northwest came back as Dak Shagren hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left and, after West made one of two free throws on the other end, Shagren was fouled shooting from downtown with 11 ticks on the clock. He converted all three free attempts to force another extra period.

West started the second OT with a three-point play. Shagren answered from downtown, but Spear and West then stepped into 3-pointers to highlight a 9-0 as the Raiders pulled away for good.

The Raiders still haven't led at halftime of a conference game, and they've trailed in the final four minutes of regulation in three of them. Dating back to last season, they've claimed a program record seven straight overtime games, and three of the last four have gone double-OT.

West's breakout performance triggered memories of last season's NAIA Sweet 16 win over Grace (Ind.), when he went off for his previous career-high of 32 points. A preseason All-CCC pick, he averaged 18.1 points through SOU's first eight games but had struggled since with an average of 10 points on atypically-low 42-percent shooting and 3-for-14 accuracy from downtown. He finished 13-of-21 from the field, with season-bests of four 3-pointers and nine rebounds.

He was a shade off becoming the 10th Raider to ever hit 40 points. The last Raider to score 38 was All-American Eric Thompson, who did it most recently on Feb. 7, 2014 against Northwest.

West got some help, as Spear went for 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds with 11 points and eight assists after halftime. Ben DeSaulnier scored 13 of his 17 after the break, too, and Clay Sierra added 17 points.

Tucakovic finished with a career-high 28 points for Northwest, and Shagren had 25. The Eagles' leading scorer, Michael Dupree, shut just 5-for-20 from the field – hounded for most of the afternoon defensively by Gary Melvin. The Eagles received only two points from their bench.

SOU's sweep of the Washington trip was its second in the last 10 seasons.
 
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