RAIDER MEN'S BASKETBALL (6-4, 4-0)
7:30 p.m. Wednesday – vs. No. 24 Oregon Tech (8-2, 3-1)
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ASHLAND – Sitting at 4-0 in the Cascade Conference for the first time in eight years, the Southern Oregon men's basketball team will attempt to clear another tall hurdle ahead of a two-week holiday break when No. 24-ranked Oregon Tech visits Lithia Motors Pavilion on Wednesday night.

SOU (6-4 overall) and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) are the only teams left with perfect CCC records. The Raiders have already knocked off the teams picked to finish first and second in the conference's preseason poll – College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon – and will now go at the team picked to finish third in the Owls (8-2, 3-1 CCC), who have returned to form after an injury-plagued 2022-23 season that they finished at .500 in the circuit. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

SOU vs. OIT: Wednesday's matchup marks the 250th installment of the rivalry series, which the Owls lead 162-87. The teams split last season, when SOU ended a seven-year drought on OIT's home court with an 84-75 victory and the Owls left Lithia Motors Pavilion with a 60-57 win despite losing all of a 16-point lead in the second half. Eight of the last nine meetings in Ashland have been decided by seven or fewer points, and the Raiders went 7-6 at home against the Owls over the previous 10 seasons.

A starting lineup featuring four guards – each of whom are in their fourth seasons on the floor for OIT – has Owls on top of the CCC in terms of offensive rating at 113.4 points per 100 possessions, and their only losses have come at the hands of top-ranked Grace (Ind.) and No. 5 College of Idaho. The Raiders' size, meanwhile, has helped them to the CCC's best defensive rating: They're allowing 91.2 points per 100 possessions and an average of 64 points per game.

NAIA TOP 25: College of Idaho, the defending national champion, dropped three spots to No. 5 in last week's poll as a result of an 81-75 loss at SOU, which ended the Yotes' 30-game CCC winning streak. OIT is the only other ranked team in the conference at No. 24. SOU will have played seven games between last week's ranking and the next one scheduled to be released Jan. 17.

BRIEFLY:

• After double-digit wins over the weekend at Evergreen (Wash.) and Northwest (Wash.), the Raiders have held three consecutive CCC opponents under 60 points for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Their defensive rating is the 24th-best out of 226 teams in the NAIA; a season ago, they ranked 88th in that category. They've found success by running opponents off of the 3-point line, where they allow just 17 attempts per game – the lowest mark in the conference.
• Every year since 2010, the Raiders have had at least one player averaging 14 or more points per game. They don't have any in that tier for now – but instead six players are posting between eight and 11 points. Last weekend their by-committee offense produced 11 different double-figure totals, but no one scored more than 14.
• Teron Bradford is averaging a team-high 13 points in CCC play and has scored in double figures six consecutive games overall. The junior's assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.9-to-1 is the second-best in the circuit, and he ranked second in that category as a sophomore at 3.6-to-1.
• Bryce Dyer recorded his third double-double in six games – two of which have come off the bench – Friday at Evergreen, going for 13 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. The redshirt-freshman is second on the team in rebounds (6.0) and assists (2.8) despite being used as a reserve in six of 10 games.
• SOU's starting forwards, Dominic McGarvey and Khalil Chatman, are combining for 21.5 points on 48-percent shooting and 12 rebounds per game. Chatman is the CCC's sixth-leading rebounder (7.0) and McGarvey ranks seventh in blocked shots (1.2) and 15th in 3-point percentage (40.6).
• Mason Whittaker (8.3 points, 2.0 assists) is hitting at a team-best 49 percent from the field. The junior had shot 39 percent in his career entering the season. He is averaging 10.2 points over his last six games.
• Over the last month the Raiders have posted their top-two 3-point make totals in the last 25 years – hitting 19 against Cal Maritime and 18 against Evergreen – but they've also won games while making just two and four 3-pointers in that span. Dating back to last season, they've won 15 consecutive games in which they've hit at 33 percent or better from 3.
• The Raiders are averaging only 11.6 turnovers. They've committed fewer than their opponents six games in a row.
• Since moving into Lithia Motors Pavilion in 2018, SOU is 38-12 in CCC home games.

ABOUT OREGON TECH:

• Like the Raiders, the Owls are well-rounded offensively with all five starters averaging at least nine points. They've had six different leading scorers in 10 games, but Kam Osborn (13.5 points) and Keegan Shivers (13.1) top the bunch while Jamison Guerra (11.6) leads the league in assists by a wide margin at 7.4 per game.
• They shoot 38 percent as a team from 3 – a clip that puts them at No. 2 in the CCC – but their big men, Blake Jensen and Kody Bauman, are at 60 percent inside the arc. As a team, the Owls have already shot 55 percent or better in four different outings.
• The Owls have found success on the defensive end in Ashland – holding SOU to 38 percent or worse from the field each of their last four visits.
• Justin Parnell, in his eighth season at OIT, is now the CCC's longest-tenured head coach at a single school. He has led the Owls to the national tournament five times in six full seasons.