7:30 p.m. (MT) Friday – SOU at College of Idaho – Live Stats/Stream
7:30 p.m. Saturday – SOU at Eastern Oregon – Live Stats/Stream

ASHLAND – While far from a make-or-break weekend, the 12th-ranked Southern Oregon men's basketball team could be anywhere from first to fourth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings by the time it wraps up the first half of CCC play Friday and Saturday at No. 25 College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon.

Should the Raiders (14-4 overall, 7-1 CCC) come home with a win or two, they'll be in prime position to make a run at the conference title with six of 10 games at home during the second half. Then again, this is a road trip they haven't swept in 10 years, and they're not necessarily catching the Coyote (11-6, 6-2) or Mountaineers (8-10, 4-4) at favorable times.

C of I, which has won the last two CCC regular-season and tournament titles, is riding a four-game win streak into the weekend, including an 87-76 triumph at Warner Pacific last Saturday that should be considered the highest-quality road win in the CCC this season. Despite losing four starters from last year's team – including two NAIA All-American guards, a CCC defensive player of the year at wing and an All-CCC center, not to mention a sixth man who led the team in 3-pointers – they have rediscovered their form behind forward Joey Nebeker (21.7 points), a Boise State transfer, and guard Aitor Zubizarretta (15.6 points), a transfer from the University of Portland. Back in the NAIA Top 25 this week, they've also won 23 straight conference games at home.

The Mountaineers might be considered the more vulnerable opponent but are just as dangerous with three NCAA Div. I transfers of their own in the backcourt: Trell Washington (20.8 points, 13.2 rebounds), Case Rada (16.4 points) and Tate De Laveaga (10.6 points). Of their 10 losses, five were against ranked NAIA foes and two were against NCAA Div. II competition.

The Raiders were dealt their first CCC loss last week at Oregon Tech, 67-51, but avoided their first losing streak with Sunday's 84-64 win at Walla Walla. They're tied in first place with 17th-ranked Northwest Christian, one game ahead of C of I and Warner Pacific.

Quick Hits:
– In CCC play, SOU is the only team with four players among the top-30 scorers: Ben DeSaulnier (16.5 points per game), Jordan West (16.0), Joel Spear (15.5) and Clay Sierra (13.0). Among field-goal percentage leaders, Sierra (69.7) is first, Spear (57.9) is fifth and West (51.1) is 13th, while Spear (4.6) and West (4.3) are also fifth and seventh in assists.
– In three games against C of I last season, Jordan West averaged 16.7 points on 62-percent shooting, highlighted by a 21-point effort in the conference tournament title game. Since the start of last season, West has hit double figures in 24 of 26 CCC contests.
– In SOU's last five games, Clay Sierra is averaging 15.8 points on 75-percent shooting. He's shooting 65.9 percent for the season, which would match Matt Zosel's single-season SOU record established in the 2000-01 season.
– Spear is up to 313 career assists, surpassing T.J. Caughell for fourth place on SOU's career assists list with five at Walla Walla. He has 101 this season, just 12 away from matching his total from last season. The senior has also made 34 of 71 attempts from 3-point range – ranking ninth in the NAIA with a percentage of 47.9 – after making 18 of 49 all of last season.
– If the Raiders have one glaring weakness, it's on the boards. They've out-rebounded 12 of 18 opponents, but that can be explained by a field-goal percentage of 50.5 that ranks first in the CCC and fourth in the nation. A more advanced statistic like defensive-rebounding percentage reveals that they rank last in CCC play by pulling down 66.1 percent of their opponents' misses. EOU ranks first in that category with a clip of 79.7 percent.
– SOU's 19.6 assists per game rank fourth in the NAIA, and their 1.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks third.
– In the Raiders' 14 wins, they've shot 41 percent from beyond the arc with an average of 8.9 makes. In their last three losses, they're a combined 10-for-43 from 3-point range.

About College of Idaho: In addition to Nebeker and Zubizarretta, the Coyotes have relied heavily on junior point guard Emmanuel Morgan, the reigning CCC player of the week. He dished out 22 assists in their last two games and ranks 10th in the nation with 5.8 per game, and is also up to 11.4 point per game after averaging 2.5 last season… The Yotes are second in the nation with an average of 10.8 steals and are third in turnover margin (plus-6.3)… SOU's last win in Caldwell was a 64-61 decision on Dec. 17, 2011 in which the Raiders overcame a 19-point deficit in the second half… The Yotes have a 48-21 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1960-61 season.

About Eastern Oregon: In one season, the Mountaineers have gone from seventh to first in the CCC in opponents' field-goal percentage (40.5)… Washington, a 6-foot-4 point guard, owns 17 double-doubles (points and rebounds) this season. The one game that he didn't record a double-double, he finished with nine boards… A season ago, 40 percent of EOU's total attempts were from 3-point range. This year, that number is down to 32… The Raiders have won five straight in the series, including their last three in La Grande, and are 99-82 all-time against the Mountaineers dating back to 1930.