ASHLAND – With a showdown against the NAIA's top-ranked team looming, the Southern Oregon men's basketball team gave second-place Eastern Oregon its full attention in a statement win Friday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

In the first part of a critical five-game homestand, the Raiders crept within one win of the Mountaineers in the Cascade Conference standings by blowing them out 88-63 in front of an energized crowd. Senior forward Josh Meyer, coming off a season-best scoring output, provided a steady hand with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 13 rebounds and four assists.

SOU (12-6 overall, 8-4 CCC) ended the night with a 17-3 push. Cole McAninch provided the exclamation point with a transition dunk that took down a defender and raised the decibel level. He and fellow reserve Khalil Chatman scored 14 points apiece, combining to shoot 11-of-17 from the field, as SOU's bench outscored EOU's 35-22.

The Mountaineers (12-6, 9-3) – who defeated the Raiders in overtime on Dec. 3 – had little going outside of Phillip Malatare's 25 points. The senior all-star shot 11-of-17 but the rest of the Mountaineers hit at 27 percent from the field and went 4-of-20 from 3 after coming into the night with a 39-percent season clip beyond the arc.

The Raiders have won four in a row heading into Saturday's 5 p.m. matchup with No. 1 College of Idaho, which cruised to its 17th consecutive victory Friday at Oregon Tech. In their first meeting, the Yotes and Raiders exchanged leads 13 times before C of I pulled away for a 67-59 win.

There was no such back-and-forth against EOU. The Raiders went ahead for good with 13 minutes left in the first half, finishing the period on a 27-14 run to take a 12-point lead into the break. They heated up in the second half with 18-of-35 shooting to total 49 points. Will Graves posted 10 of his 12 points in the frame, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, and Atmar Mundu recorded nine of his 11 points and four of his six assists after halftime.

Meyer lifted the Raiders early, coming up two rebounds short of a double-double in the first half. The two-time all-conference performer has gone 13-of-16 from the field and 7-of-10 from 3 over SOU's last two games; he'd gone 2-of-19 outside over the previous six.

Dominic McGarvey contributed eight points, five rebounds and three blocks. Tez Allen and Brett Hollins scored seven apiece.

The Mountaineers have dropped 11 of their last 12 games in Ashland.