CASCADE CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS – 7 p.m. Wednesday
Corban (7) at #14 SOU (2) – Live Stats | Live Stream | Tickets
Northwest (8) at #16 Northwest Christian (1)
Eastern Oregon (6) at #21 Warner Pacific (3)
Oregon Tech (5) at College of Idaho (4)

ASHLAND – Last Friday, Northwest Christian took the wind out of Southern Oregon's sails with a win that gave the Beacons the top seed in the Cascade Conference and an automatic bid to the national tournament. One night later, the Raiders went free-falling in a loss at Corban that spoiled their opportunity to share the CCC regular-season title.

The Raiders (23-7 overall, 16-4 CCC) don't have to wait long for a shot at redemption. With the No. 2 seed, they'll open the CCC Championships presented by U.S. Bank at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a quarterfinal matchup against seventh-seeded Corban (16-12, 10-10) at Mountain Avenue Gym.

The Raiders thrived on drama for most of the regular season – they went 11-0 in CCC games that were within five points in the final five minutes – but failed to put themselves in position for such antics in the final weekend, dropping consecutive games for the first time. They'll be relieved to come home, where they went 12-0 to run the table in the regular season for the first time since 1942, and would be guaranteed another home game in Saturday's semifinal round with a win.

NAIA Top 25: SOU moved down just three spots to No. 14 in Tuesday's lastest edition of the coaches' poll. Northwest Christian stayed at No. 12, while Warner Pacific moved up five spots to No. 16. Eleven top-25 teams were defeated last Saturday alone.

Playoff Picture: The CCC tournament is not bracketed; the lowest remaining seed will visit the highest remaining seed in the semifinals, and the second-lowest remaining seed will visit the second-highest remaining seed. If the Raiders can advance Wednesday, then, they'd host a semifinal game at 7 p.m. Saturday for the first time since 2005.

The CCC gets two automatic bids to the 32-team NAIA Div. II Championships – one for the regular season champ and another for the tournament champ. However, if the regular season champ (Northwest Christian) were to also win the tournament, the second automatic would go to SOU for earning the No. 2 seed during the regular season. Another path the Raiders could take to the national tournament is with an at-large bid: The final at-large has been awarded to the No. 25 team in the final coaches' poll each of the last two years. The Raiders missed out in 2014 at No. 26 but got in with an at-large last year at No. 21. The final poll, along with qualifiers and the tournament bracket, will be announced next Wednesday. The national tournament takes place March 9-15 in Branson, Mo.

Tournament History: SOU has advanced to the CCC tournament final two of the last three years – losing the 2013 title at Warner Pacific and the 2015 title at College of Idaho. The Raiders have advanced to the tournament the last six years but haven't won it since 2005. The Warriors are back in the tournament for the fifth time in six years but haven't gotten out of the first round since 2011. Their lone tournament title was claimed in 2002 with a win over SOU in the championship game.

Head-to-Head: On Dec. 5 in Ashland, the Raiders trailed Corban 77-71 with 20 seconds left in regulation when Kenny Meyer hit a step-back 3-pointer, Clay Sierra came up with a steal on the ensuing inbounds pass and Joel Spear tied it on another 3. In overtime, Jordan West's 3-pointer with three ticks left made the Raiders 86-84 winners. Last Saturday, Cyrus Ward dominated the Raiders inside with 28 points and 11 rebounds in Corban's 90-74 victory. Caleb Herzberg added 21 off the bench, and he and Cody Crowe combined to shoot 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

SOU had won seven straight against Corban until last Saturday but had trailed in the final two minutes of the last three of those wins. Corban leads the all-time series, 42-40.

Quick Hits:
– Ben DeSaulnier paced the Raiders in CCC play with 17 points per game and scored 29 on Saturday at Corban. He scored 20-plus nine times in conference action and didn't need more than 13 field-goal attempts in any of those games. He's also 41-of-45 from the free-throw line in SOU's last six games.
– Among CCC leaders, Joel Spear finished 20th in points per game (14.7), eighth in rebounds (7.2), third in assists (5.6), eighth in blocks (0.9) and 14th in steals (1.3).
– Clay Sierra ranked fourth in CCC play in field-goal percentage (62.1), sixth in blocks (1.1) and ninth in steals (1.5).
– In SOU's four conference losses, opponents shot 44 percent and SOU shot 31 percent from 3-point range. In SOU's 16 conference wins, opponents shot 37 percent and SOU shot 40 percent from 3-point range.
– Jordan West is up to 1,345 career points, the 11th-most in Raider history. With 26 more, he and DeSaulnier would become the third Raider duo ever to both score 500 points in the same season.
– SOU is still No. 1 in the NAIA in assists per game (19.6) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8).  However, the Raiders have committed 55 turnovers their last four games after committing 36 in the previous four.

About Corban: The Warriors topped the CCC during the regular season with a team field-goal percentage of 50.9, knocking SOU off its perch in that category for the first time since 2012… They depend on the prowess of sophomore guard AJ Monterossi (18.5 points) and senior forward Cyrus Ward (18.4); one or the other has led the team in scoring in all but one game this season… They enter the tournament having won five of their last seven – a stretch preceded by a four-game skid – and one of those losses was an 87-86 nail-biter at third-seeded Warner Pacific… In his fourth season with the Warriors, head coach Steve Masten has announced his resignation effective at the end of the season.