desaulnier
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
91
Winner Southern Oregon SOU
79
Simpson (Calif.) SU
Winner
Southern Oregon SOU
91
Final
79
Simpson (Calif.) SU
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Southern Oregon SOU 44 47 91
Simpson (Calif.) SU 37 42 79

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

DeSaulnier scores 29 as SOU pulls away from Simpson

REDDING, Calif. – Ben DeSaulnier scored 29 points and climbed three spots to No. 4 on Southern Oregon's career scoring list in the process, lifting the 11th-ranked Raiders to a 91-79 win over Simpson (Calif.) on Tuesday night at the Grant Center.

The highlight of DeSaulnier's performance was a 20-point first half in which he downed all four of his 3-point attempts. The senior wing from Philomath went 10-of-16 overall from the floor and brought his career point total to 1,552 – passing Lloyd Hoffine (1952-56), Bill Hollingsworth (1952-53, 55-58) and Ryan Harbert (1993-97) all on the same night.

The Raiders (1-1) went ahead five minutes into their first win of the season and never trailed thereafter, but the Redhawks didn't fade quietly in their home opener. SOU took a 44-37 lead into halftime courtesy of back-to-back 3s from Desaulnier and Aaron Borich, and the it shot to 10 points on two occasions during the second half before Simpson started chipping away, cutting it to 64-61 on a Brandon Moss and-1 with 9:14 to go.

Up 69-64, the Raiders finally pulled away on a 10-2 spurt keyed by four easy transition buckets, getting two apiece from DeSaulnier and Kenny Meyer. They led by as many as 16.

Meyer added 15 points, and sophomore forward Jordan Hunt controlled the paint with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks. He put an exclamation point on his second straight double-double with a breakaway dunk inside the final minute.

The Raiders were also boosted by stellar work at the free-throw line, where they converted 35 of 41 attempts. Meyer went 9-of-10, Tate Hoffman went 7-of-8 on the way to 10 points, and Tristen Holmes was perfect on six tries at the stripe to total 10 points with five assists. Borich added eight points off the bench with a pair of 3-pointers.

From the field, SOU shot 50 percent while Simpson went 30-of-67. Josh Brakkee's 16 points and nine rebounds led the Redhawks.

SOU is off until next Tuesday, when it hosts 16th-ranked Oregon Tech in a non-conference game at Mountain Avenue Gym. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
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