EUGENE – A 13-of-23 display from 3-point range, Southern Oregon's best in a couple months, was the difference in a key 92-81 win against Bushnell on Friday night at the Morse Center.
Ethan Blythe and
Elijah Jackson headed SOU's long-distance barrage, Blythe by going 4-of-5 downtown and Jackson by hitting all three of his attempts from 3 as they respectively scored 12 and 11 points.
Dominic McGarvey logged team-highs of 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots while shooting 8-of-13 inside,
Teron Bradford finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and
Casson Rouse scored 11 with five assists off the bench.
The Raiders (15-10 overall, 13-6 Cascade Conference) entered the night in a three-way tie for the No. 4 seed in the conference, which would give them homecourt advantage in the quarterfinal round of the upcoming CCC Tournament. They dropped the Beacons (15-10, 12-7) out of the tie, while Corban, their opponent at 5 p.m. Saturday, fell out with a 79-74 loss to Oregon Tech.
The Raiders shot 53 percent from the field, their second-best clip of the season behind only a December trip to lowly Evergreen (Wash.). They led 45-41 at halftime thanks to Jackson's 4-of-4 performance in seven minutes of action, then never trailed in the second half and were up by as many as 15 after
Khalil Chatman's three-point play with 14:30 to go.
Bushnell got within eight inside the five-minute mark before McGarvey downed a 3 and Blythe did the same on back-to-back possessions.
Brett Hollins chipped in eight points. The Raiders' bench totaled 37, giving them a 16-point advantage in that department.
Stevie Schlabach scored 21 to lead the Beacons, who had averaged 101.7 during the six-game winning streak they brought into the matchup.