RAIDER MEN'S BASKETBALL (4-5, 2-0 CCC)
Dec. 19-20 | Ashland, Ore. (Lithia Motors Pavilion) | Tickets
7:30 p.m. Friday – vs. Corban (5-5, 1-1) | Stream | Live Stats
5 p.m. Saturday – vs. Bushnell (5-4, 2-0) | Stream | Live Stats

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon men's basketball team has two more opportunities to show it is turning the proverbial corner with back-to-back Cascade Conference games coming up this weekend at Lithia Motors Pavilion.

After a week off, the Raiders (4-5 overall, 2-0 CCC) face Corban (5-5, 1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Bushnell (5-4, 2-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday, continuing a 10-game stretch in which they'll play eight at home. They were sharp two weeks ago in their home debuts, leading Northwest by as many as 25 points and Evergreen by as many as 35 in a CCC-opening sweep. Another unbeaten weekend would give them their second 4-0 conference start in the last decade.

FREE STREAMING: SOU is offering free live streams of all home events as part of a CCC-wide move to the Urban Edge Network. Fans can watch on desktop computers at UrbanEdgeNetwork.net and are encouraged to download the Urban Edge Network app for best viewing experiences on mobile devices and Smart TVs.

NAIA TOP 25: The CCC was represented by one team, No. 20 Oregon Tech, in Wednesday's latest NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll. Defending national champion College of Idaho dropped out but was receiving votes along with Lewis-Clark State, which defeated the Yotes by 20 points Dec. 6 in Caldwell. The next poll will be released Jan. 14, the day after OIT visits SOU.

BRIEFLY:

• Gio Evanson was voted the CCC Defensive Player of the Week following SOU's most recent outings. He averaged 10 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and 1.5 blocked shots in the Raider wins, also registering his first career double-double with 18 and 10 against Northwest. The sophomore guard is averaging 8.3 points on the season. He became the second Raider in three weeks to earn the award, joining Bryce Dyer.
• Elijah Jackson is 48 points away from becoming the 27th member of SOU's 1,000-point club. He leads the team at 14.9 per game, and after a rocky start has shot 51% from the field (21-of-41) and 52% from 3 (12-of-23) over his last four outings. Dating back to last season, Jackson has scored 10-plus points 20 times in SOU's last 22 games.
• Like Jackson, another senior, Joe Juhala, has provided a recent uptick in production with 10.8 points on 57% accuracy over his last four games. The forward is second on the team at 9.3 points on the season.
• Bryce Dyer is on top of the CCC rebounding leaderboard at 7.7 per game, including 3.3 on the offensive glass. The junior from Medford ranked second in rebounds last year with an average of 9.4.
• The Raiders shot 50% from the field and limited their opponents to 30% combined in their first two CCC games. Over the last three seasons, they're 35-3 in regular-season games in which their opponents shoot worse than 47%.
• In their four wins, the Raiders' reserves have accounted for 41% of their total points.
• SOU is 34-9 at home in Matt Zosel's four seasons as head coach and has won 19 of its last 20 against unranked opponents in Ashland.

ABOUT CORBAN: First-year coach Wayne Mendezona's Warriors have an all-new look after replacing every starter from a 15-win team that finished fifth in the conference. They're dangerous around the basket behind forward Tj Zimmermann (14.1 points, 6.8 rebounds) – a former tight end at Oregon State and the brother of SOU volleyball player Tessa Zimmermann – and slashing wings Joe Gould (12.2 points) and Anjay Cortez (10.6 points), but are being weighed down offensively by a 28% clip from 3. SOU is 56-48 all-time against Corban and the teams have split their last three regular-season series.

ABOUT BUSHNELL: The Beacons have averaged 91.4 points in their five wins and carry a three-game streak into the weekend. Kaleb Burnett, a 6-foot-3 wing last season's CCC Freshman of the Year, keys the offense at 18.4 points on 58% shooting – he scored 25 last season at SOU – while All-CCC forward Cory Johnson (13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds) has put up an average of 20 points off the bench in his last three games. SOU is 38-28 in the all-time series and has won five straight and 10 of the last 12 matchups.