KLAMATH FALLS – The Southern Oregon men's basketball team that was expected when the season began showed up this weekend in the Lithia-Oregon Tech Classic, punctuating its stay with Saturday's 81-59 blowout of No. 23-ranked Hope International (Calif.) at Danny Miles Court.
A night after thumping a stellar Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) squad by 27 points, the Raiders built a 20-point lead in the first half and never looked back while handing the Royals their first loss.
Their well-balanced offense put four players in double figures:
Elijah Jackson (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals),
Brady Rice (12 points),
Emmett Fenz (11 points) and
Trey Neff (10 points).
Gio Evanson and
Joe Juhala scored eight apiece, and
Bryce Dyer went for seven points and seven rebounds as SOU shot 46% from the field and got 31 from its bench.
The teams traded buckets early until the Raiders used a 13-1 surge – capped by
Gio Evanson's baseline dunk in traffic and a Jackson 3-pointer – to go up 40-25 under the six-minute mark of the first half.
The Raiders (2-3) never scored more than 65 points while dropping out of the NAIA Top 25 with three consecutive losses to start the season, all against current nationally-ranked teams. They averaged 82 on the weekend and had 51 by halftime against HIU (4-1), which was fresh off a win Friday night against No. 19 Oregon Tech.
The Raiders showed signs of breaking out of their slump from the 3-point line, where they were the Cascade Conference's best a season ago but have shot at a paltry 28% clip so far. They hit seven of their first 12 attempts from beyond the arc – Fenz and
Luke Wagstaff made two apiece – before misfiring on 16 of their next 18.
By then, their lead was insurmountable. The Royals' 8-of-21 accuracy in the second half prevented them from getting back in it. They only knocked down two 3-pointers.
Nick Hopkins scored a game-high 15 points for the Royals.
The Raiders will play their next game at HIU in a Nov. 24 rematch. A day later, they'll have their final non-conference tuneup against The Master's (Calif.).