spear
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Joel Spear had 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists Sunday. (Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo)
72
College of Idaho CI 16-12, 11-8
76
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 23-5, 16-2
College of Idaho CI
16-12, 11-8
72
Final
76
Southern Oregon SOU
23-5, 16-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
College of Idaho CI 45 27 72
Southern Oregon SOU 41 35 76

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

Raiders rally again to down Yotes, move back into first place

ASHLAND – On Sunday afternoon at Mountain Avenue Gym, the Southern Oregon University men's basketball team erased a second-half deficit to snatch a key Cascade Conference victory from the jaws of defeat.

And, no, the previous sentence was not lifted from a template – it's just a formula the 14th-ranked Raiders have utterly abused.

Their latest act of self-plagiarism was a 76-72 win over College of Idaho, the 10th conference win in which they've trailed during the second half, and put them back into a first-place tie for the first time in a month. The Raiders (23-5 overall) and eighth-ranked Northwest Christian are locked up with 16-2 CCC records with two games to go in the regular season and will meet next Friday in Eugene. SOU won its first meeting with the Beacons, 80-75, on Dec. 6 in Ashland.

Celebrating his senior day, SOU point guard Joel Spear helped run the Raiders' win streak to eight games with 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, a night after posting 12 assists. Spear scored the game-winning points with 34 seconds left when he drove the lane and was fouled shooting a jumper, breaking a 72-all tie by sinking both free throws.

The Raiders had trailed 59-51 with 12 minutes left.

The Coyotes (16-12, 11-8), who were the preseason favorite to win their third straight CCC championship, had two chances two answer: Dominique Jordan missed a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, Joey Nebeker collected the offensive rebound, and Aitor Zubizarreta missed everything on a contested attempt at the bucket with two seconds left.

Ben DeSaulnier, who scored 17 points, came up with the rebound and sealed the win with two free throws. He went 9-for-11 from the stripe in the game and 23-for-25 on the weekend.

Nebeker scored 19 and Zubizaretta had 18 to lead the Yotes. They shot 8-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half, taking a 45-41 lead into the break, but just 5-of-22 in the second.

SOU is 12-0 at home and ran the table in the regular season for the first time since 1941-42. The Raiders are assured no worse than the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CCC tournament – they'll host the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 – and would clinch the No. 1 seed with a win next Friday.

Spear lifted them out of trouble again and again. Down 38-29 with five minutes left in the first half, he scored seven straight points with an and-one and a 3-pointer; and down 45-41 to start the second half, he made 3-pointers on SOU's first two possessions.

When they trailed 59-51, the Raiders made their move starting with a DeSaulnier jumper and free throw, then pulled to within three when Spear stripped Nebeker and hit Tristen Holmes for a bucket at the end of a fast break. SOU finally tied it at 61-all when Jordan West drilled a 3-pointer and Holmes found Spear in the lane for a basket with 8:40 to go.

The teams went back-and-forth from there, finally locking up at 72-all again when Dominique Jordan hit a triple with 46 seconds to play.
 
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