meyer
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
86
Eastern Oregon EOU 14-14, 9-9
92
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 22-5, 15-2
Eastern Oregon EOU
14-14, 9-9
86
Final
92
Southern Oregon SOU
22-5, 15-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Eastern Oregon EOU 35 51 86
Southern Oregon SOU 38 54 92

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

Raiders hang on to beat EOU; play for first place Sunday

ASHLAND – Ben DeSaulnier and Jordan West scored 20 points apiece and the 14th-ranked Southern Oregon men's basketball team survived again, 92-86 against Eastern Oregon on Saturday night at Mountain Avenue Gym.

The win was the seventh straight for the Raiders (22-5 overall, 15-2 Cascade Conference), who will have a chance to move back into a first-place tie for the first time in a month Sunday when they host College of Idaho at 3 p.m. The opening comes courtesy of 24th-ranked Warner Pacific, which knocked off first-place and No. 8 Northwest Christian on Saturday to drop the Beacons to 16-2 in the CCC.

DeSaulnier went 14-for-14 from the free-throw line and West shot 8-of-16 from the field with a career-high 13 rebounds and three blocks. For the first time this season against a top-eight team in the conference, the Raiders led at halftime, 38-35, but they trailed 41-40 a couple minutes into the second half before Kenny Meyer provided a much-needed spark.

Consecutive buckets inside for West put the Raiders up 44-41 when Meyer scored SOU's next 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and two jumpers. His last bucket put SOU up 57-51, and a fall-away jumper by DeSaulnier in the lane gave the Raiders their biggest lead at 59-51 with 11 minutes left.

The Mountaineers (14-14, 9-9) cut back into the lead with six unanswered points. Up 63-60, the Raiders went back inside to West, who scored off the backboard, was fouled and converted the free throw.

Leading 72-69 with five minutes to play, West started a 6-0 run with a turnaround jumper in the lane. The Raiders sealed the win with 10 straight made free throws in the final minute, including six from DeSaulnier.

Meyer finished with 19 points, Clay Sierra went 6-for-7 with 13 points and two blocks, Joel Spear dished out 12 assists with seven rebounds and Gary Melvin scored all 11 of his points in the first half off the bench.

Trell Washington had 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Mountaineers, who had been responsible for one of SOU's two CCC losses.

SOU shot 51 percent from the field, going 17-for-29 (59 percent) in the second half.

The Raiders are now 11-0 at home this season – one win away from their first perfect regular-season home record since the 1940s.
 
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