meyer
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
68
Corban CRB 16-13
71
Winner Southern Oregon SOU 24-7
Corban CRB
16-13
68
Final
71
Southern Oregon SOU
24-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Corban CRB 32 36 68
Southern Oregon SOU 36 35 71

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

No. 14 SOU hangs on for 71-68 win over Corban, moves on to semifinals

ASHLAND – A slight wrinkle was added to the 14th-ranked Southern Oregon's men basketball team's usual survival procedure on Wednesday night: Now the Raiders get to advance, too.

Other than that, it was the same old story in the quarterfinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank at Mountain Avenue Gym. The second-seeded Raiders hung on, just barely, for a 71-68 win over seventh-seeded Corban as Caleb Dozier's potential game-tying 3-point attempt rimmed in and out as the buzzer sounded.

With the win, the Raiders (24-7 overall) solidified their case for an at-large bid to the NAIA Div. II Championships and moved on to host No. 3 seed and 16th-ranked Warner Pacific at 7 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

They did it despite a dismal 14-of-28 night at the free-throw line and another monster performance by Cyrus Ward, Corban's senior center. Ward –who lit up the Raiders for 28 points and 11 rebounds to spur Corban's 90-74 upset in Saturday's regular-season finale in Salem, which spoiled SOU's shot at a share of the CCC regular-season title – went off again for 33 points on 15-of-22 shooting and 12 rebounds.

SOU neutralized its struggles at the line and inability to stop Ward with 50-percent shooting from the field (26-of-52), including a 5-of-11 mark from downtown. Ben DeSaulnier led a balanced effort with 15 points, Jordan West had 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals, and Kenny Meyer and Joel Spear scored 13 apiece.

The Raiders led 36-32 at halftime but never by more than six in the second half, which featured three ties and a pair of lead changes.

Tied at 56 after Ward's layup with 8:12 remaining, West put the Raiders up for good with a left-handed hook off the backboard. Tristen Holmes then rebounded a Warrior miss and sunk a jumper in transition, and DeSaulnier's two free throws made it a six-point game with 5:38 left following another Corban miss.

The Warriors didn't go away, though. Ward's tip-in with 1:08 remaining cut the Raider lead to 66-64, but SOU responded when West's touch-pass to Spear for a 3-pointer just beat the shot-clock buzzer with 40 seconds to go.

SOU opened the door again as Spear and DeSaulnier both went 1-for-2 at the line in the last 20 seconds, and Dozier's open look for the tie on the wing wouldn't stay down.

Gary Melvin contributed eight points and six boards off the bench for the Raiders, while AJ Monterossi scored his 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting and had six assists for the Warriors.

The Raiders have now won 12 straight games that have been within five points in the final five minutes. They're also 13-0 at home.

They'll try to protect that perfect record against Warner Pacific, which was an 80-71 winner over Eastern Oregon in its quarterfinal game. The Raiders won both regular-season games against the Knights, but they had to overcome an 18-point second half deficit in their 92-90 win on Dec. 31 in Ashland and won on DeSaulnier's banked-in runner at the buzzer, 78-76, on Jan. 29 in Portland.

SOU will be appearing in its third conference semifinal game in four years.

Fifth-seeded Oregon Tech will travel to top-seeded Northwest Christian in the other semifinal. OIT upset fourth-seeded College of Idaho, 79-58, and NCU nipped eighth-seeded Northwest, 66-60.
 
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