CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
WEDNESDAY – QUARTERFINALS
(1) College of Idaho 99, (8) Multnomah 65
(7) Warner Pacific 85, (2) Oregon Tech 76
(3) Lewis-Clark State 58, (6) Eastern Oregon 57
(5) Southern Oregon 67, (4) Corban 65
SATURDAY – SEMIFINALS
Southern Oregon 67, Lewis-Clark State 66
College of Idaho 97, Warner Pacific 64
TUESDAY – CHAMPIONSHIP
6 p.m. PT – Southern Oregon at College of Idaho
LEWISTON, Idaho – By any means necessary, even with a little backboard assistance,
Tez Allen refuses to let the Southern Oregon men's basketball team go home.
The veteran guard sent shockwaves through the P1FCU Activity Center on Saturday night, banking in a contested leaner from the 3-point line that fell through with six-tenths of a second left to send the Raiders to a 67-66 win at Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in the semifinals of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
Two straight road upsets have the No. 5-seeded Raiders (18-14 overall) one away from reserving a spot in the NAIA National Tournament. They'll visit ninth-ranked College of Idaho, the CCC regular season champion, at 6 p.m. Pacific Time in Tuesday's final.
Allen, three nights after ending fourth-seeded Corban's season by scoring four straight baskets down the stretch of a 67-65 win, placed third-seeded LC State squarely on the bubble. With a 22-10 record, last year's national runner-up will need an at-large bid when the national tournament field is announced next Thursday.
Allen went for team-highs of 15 points and nine rebounds, but sparks from the bench kept the Raiders in the game.
Elijah Jackson poured in a season-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and provided three key offensive rebounds and a steal in the second half.
Jake Virga scored 10, his best output in a month, and shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Josh Meyer's drive in for a layup and two Jackson free throws put the Raiders up 62-59 at the three-minute mark. With 2:12 left to play, Allen made it a five-point game with a fall-away jumper from 15 feet out.
The Warriors trimmed the lead to one with four straight free throws, then took it for themselves on Nathan Fromm's bucket inside with 37 seconds left. Meyer missed a 3-point attempt with 22 seconds to go, forcing the Raiders to foul, but Fromm connected on only one of his two ensuing attempts at the line.
Down 66-64, the Raiders got the ball back with 17 seconds left. Allen took it from there, receiving a handoff at the top of the key and streaking to the left wing for the dagger with a defender in his face.
It was the Raiders' second buzzer-beater in their last three CCC Tournament semifinal appearances.
Aaron Borich, now an assistant on the SOU staff, drilled one from deep in 2019 to give the Raiders a win at Corban with Allen on the court.
They went on to play and lose the final at C of I, where they'll get another chance in a few days. It will mark their fourth title game appearance in the last eight postseasons and their third straight in Caldwell.
The Yotes won their semifinal game against seventh-seeded Warner Pacific, 97-64. They swept the regular-season series against SOU, winning 66-49 in Ashland and 97-47 in Caldwell.
Fromm led LC State with 15 points. Oreon Courtney – who recorded 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds in LC State's 72-66 win over SOU eight days ago – was limited to four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Atmar Mundu finished with 10 points and seven rebounds for the Raiders. Meyer had eight and six.