7 p.m. Friday – Lewis-Clark State at SOU | Live Stats
9 p.m. Saturday – Walla Walla at SOU | Live Stats
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ASHLAND – The regular-season championship is settled, but the rest of the Cascade Conference men's basketball landscape remains wide open. Southern Oregon is left in an ideal spot with four games to go: reliant only on its own play for prime position.

Win out, and the Raiders (16-8 overall, 12-6 CCC) will have a hold on second place that would all but assure them a spot in the 64-team NAIA National Tournament field. Entering games at 7 p.m. Friday against Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (12-12, 9-9) and 9 p.m. Saturday against Walla Walla (Wash.) (1-21, 1-17) inside Lithia Motors Pavilion, they're tied for third with two other teams that are one game back of Corban, which SOU visits next Friday in search of a series sweep. The Raiders have already clinched a berth in the eight-team CCC Tournament, which begins Feb. 21 with a quarterfinal round hosted by the top-four seeds.

NAIA TOP 25: College of Idaho celebrated its third consecutive CCC title (excluding the 2020-21 season condensed by COVID-19) after defeating Eastern Oregon on Tuesday, and a day later remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the NAIA. The Yotes, winners of 23 straight games, own the CCC's first automatic national tournament bid; the second is reserved for the CCC Tournament champion, and it will go to the regular season runner-up if the Yotes win that too. No other CCC team is listed among the NAIA Top 25, though EOU and Corban are receiving votes.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders took care of business against two struggling Washington schools, handing Northwest its 12th loss in 13 games, 84-62, and Evergreen its 17th consecutive defeat, 85-61. They've won five consecutive CCC road games, matching the 2019-20 Raiders for their longest such streak since joining the circuit. Atmar Mundu scored 18 points while Brett Hollins and Josh Meyer recorded double-doubles at NU, where SOU jumped out to a 26-12 lead and never looked back. Mundu repeated his 18-point performance at Evergreen while Dominic McGarvey shot 6-of-8 with 13 points, eight rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. Tez Allen added 27 points and Will Graves scored 25 on the trip.

BRIEFLY:

• Tez Allen has been all over the SOU record book as of late and is now the program's all-time leader in steals with 160. The senior has climbed to No. 3 on SOU's career assists list (464), No. 10 in rebounds (718) and No. 20 in points (1,134). He's in the midst of his most efficient stretch of the season, shooting 27-of-53 from the field and 9-of-22 from 3 while averaging 11 points over his last six games.
• Josh Meyer has recorded at least six assists in five consecutive games, making him the first Raider to do so since All-American point guard Joel Spear in 2015-16. His current stretch featured the first triple-double at SOU since 2015 and CCC's only one this season, along with his fourth double-double of the campaign. In conference play, Meyer ranks fourth in both rebounds (7.6) and assists (4.0); no player has finished a season top-five in both categories since College of Idaho's Josh Wilson during his 2014-15 CCC Player of the Year campaign. Meyer has also scored in double figures six of his last eight games and is averaging 10.3 points.
• Atmar Mundu shot 14-of-18 from the field and 5-of-7 on 3-pointers last weekend. The senior has scored 10-plus points in 29 consecutive games and shot 50 percent or better in 15 of 23 this season. Among CCC players, he's No. 3 in points (17.0), 14th in field-goal percentage (51.0) and third in 3-point percentage (45.8).
• Dominic McGarvey already owns more blocked shots than any Raider in four years with 37. He has the third-highest blocks clip in the conference (1.2), and over his last five games is averaging 10 points on 21-of-40 shooting.
• The Raiders shot better than 50 percent in each of their last three games despite hitting at 32.5 percent combined from 3. Their record is 10-1 when they shoot at least 48 percent and 1-5 when they land under 42 percent. Among all NAIA teams, they're 15th in 3-point makes per game (9.8) and attempting more triples (28.7) than all but three squads.
• The Raiders have won their last four games by an average of 21.5 points. In conference play, they're 2-6 in games decided by single digits and 10-0 in games decided by double digits.
• Brett Hollins has collected 28 rebounds in SOU's last three games, the most for any Raider off the bench in a three-game stretch over the last decade. He's shot 13-of-26 from the field and averaged nine points in the process, marking his best offensive stretch of the season.

ABOUT LEWIS-CLARK STATE: On the heels of their eighth consecutive national tournament appearance, the Warriors are middling with a young roster that appears to be coming around with six wins in their last eight games. Their guard-centric offense revolves around sophomore Davian Brown (15.4 points), who scored 26 in last Saturday's 68-58 loss to Corban, and Silas Bennion (10.0 points, 3.6 assists). Freshman John Lustig has broken into the starting lineup with an average of 12 points. They're the top defensive-rebounding team in the conference and giving up just 73.1 points per game in CCC play. Atmar Mundu and Josh Meyer combined for 53 points, including 36 in the second half, to secure SOU's 85-81 win in Lewiston on Jan. 14. The Raiders also ended LCSC's CCC Tournament run in last year's semifinals with Tez Allen's buzzer-beating 3, but have yet to host the Warriors since they joined the circuit in 2020.

ABOUT WALLA WALLA: The Wolves got their lone win against Evergreen and have been weighed down by an offense producing a 40-percent clip from the field and a defense surrendering nearly 93 points per game. Andrew Vaughan tops three players averaging double figures at 12.8 points per game. SOU won the first meeting, 82-68, and is 12-2 in the all-time series.