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

The Southern Oregon men's basketball team will enter win-or-go-home mode as the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank start Wednesday.

The Raiders (19-10) are seeded sixth in the tournament and will play at third-seeded Northwest Christian (19-9), tipping off at 7 p.m. at the Morse Event Center. On Feb. 9, the Raiders got their first win at NCU in six years as part of a 6-3 second half of CCC play that ended with Saturday's last-second loss to Eastern Oregon. The Beacons are coming off a 75-73 overtime win at Corban but dropped out of Tuesday's latest NAIA Division II Top 25 poll due to back-to-back home losses against SOU and Oregon Tech.

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Oregon Tech locked up the CCC's first automatic bid to the NAIA Div. II National Tournament by winning the regular-season title, and seventh-ranked College of Idaho is in position to at least grab an at-large bid. Everyone else will have to win their way into the national field and take the CCC's second automatic bid that comes with the tournament title. If OIT repeats as champion, C of I will get the other automatic by virtue if finishing second in the regular season.

The semifinal round will be held Saturday. The tournament is not bracketed, so the highest remaining seed will host the lowest remaining seed. The title game, which will be broadcast on Root Sports Northwest, is scheduled for 7 p.m. next Tuesday.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: In the postseason for the ninth year in a row and the 14th time in 15 seasons, the Raiders are seeking their first tournament championship since 2005. They've appeared in the title game since then, in 2013 and '15, but were eliminated in last year's semifinals by College of Idaho. SOU and NCU have split two meetings in the CCC tourney, both quarterfinal matchups in Ashland that the Beacons won in 2014 and SOU won a year later. C of I is the defending champion.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: On Jan. 11, NCU contributed to a back-breaking 0-3 week at home for the Raiders with a 108-104 win that the Raiders trailed by as many as 11 early in the second half but then led by nine with four minutes to go. NCU guards Tyrus Hosley and Austin Tyner scored 28 apiece on the night, spoiling SOU freshman Teron Bradford's season-high of 27. On Feb. 9 in Eugene, SOU led by as many as 19 en route to an 87-76 triumph. The Raiders shot 55 percent in the contest and got a combined 33 points from Bradford and Tristen Holmes.