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

ASHLAND – If nothing else, two road losses to end the regular season last weekend simplified Southern Oregon's outlook heading into the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank: Win or it's all over.

The Raiders (19-11 overall) went into the weekend tied for second but ended in a fourth-place tie with Eastern Oregon (21-7) at 13-7 in the CCC. The tiebreaker – based on records against teams who finished .500 or better in conference play – went to the Raiders, giving them the No. 4 seed and homecourt advantage for Wednesday's 7 p.m. CCC tournament quarterfinal game against the fifth-seeded Mountaineers.

Playoff Picture: Stuck in the receiving votes category of Tuesday's latest NAIA Division II coaches' poll, SOU is almost certainly out of contention for an at-large bid to the national tournament, the 32-team field for which will be announced Feb. 28. That means the Raiders' only path is to secure an automatic bid by winning the CCC tourney, which begins Wednesday at campus sites around the conference. The tourney is not bracketed, meaning the highest remaining seed will be matched with the lowest remaining seed next round. The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, and the championship will be played 7 p.m. Tuesday and broadcast live on Root Sports Northwest.

The CCC gets two automatic bids to the national tournament. College of Idaho claimed the first by winning the regular-season title. If the Yotes win the CCC tourney, too, Warner Pacific will get the second bid for earning the No. 2 seed.

Tournament History: The Raiders are in the postseason for the eighth year in a row and 13th time in 14 seasons. They last won it in 2005 and last appeared in the title game in 2015. As the No. 5 seed last season, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Oregon Tech. Eighth-seeded Corban went on to become the most improbable champion in tournament history, upsetting off top-seeded Northwest Christian, second-seeded Eastern Oregon and OIT in sequence on the road. None of the teams Corban defeated had lost a home game in the CCC regular season.

SOU and EOU have split four all-time meetings in the CCC tournament. They last met in the 2013 semifinals, when the Raiders pulled off a road upset, 89-71, to secure a berth in the national tournament.

Head-to-Head: SOU is 102-85 in the all-time series against the Mountaineers. EOU won Saturday's matchup in La Grande, 81-77, behind sophomore Max McCullough's 29 points and thanks to 20 SOU turnovers. On Dec. 2 in Ashland, Ben DeSaulnier scored 22 and Josh Washington had 19 points and nine boards to help the Raiders to an 84-71 win in which they led comfortably for the duration of the second half. It was EOU's seventh consecutive loss in Ashland.

Briefly:
– Sophomore forward Tate Hoffman is coming off another strong weekend in which he averaged 17.5 points and seven rebounds. Over SOU's last five games, he's shot 62 percent (41-of-66) with clips of 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds.
– Senior guard Kenny Meyer hit a milestone Saturday when he became the first SOU player ever to accumulate both 1,000-plus points (1,004) and 300-plus assists (349) in a career. He's the 19th 1,000-point scorer in team history and No. 6 on the assists list. With one more steal, he'd also have 100 of those.
– Ben DeSaulnier is four points shy of becoming the second Raider ever to score 2,000.
– The Raiders went 2-6 in conference play when committing 15 or more turnovers. They also forced the second-fewest turnovers in the circuit.
– SOU will likely be playing at Mountain Avenue Gym for the last time Wednesday before moving to Lithia Motors Pavilion next season. In three years at the Ashland High facility, the Raiders have gone 30-7.
– SOU's loss at EOU was its sixth decided by four or fewer points this season. The Raiders have also won nine games decided by six or fewer.

About Eastern Oregon:
– In conference play, the Mountaineers finished eighth in field-goal percentage (44.8) and 10th in field-goal percentage defense (48.5) but were second in turnover margin (plus-3).
– They lean on a young, high-scoring backcourt: sophomore Max McCullough is the conference's top scorer at 22 points per game to go with 3.9 assists, and freshman Jordan May contributes 16.2.
– EOU has never won the tournament and last played in the title game in 2011.