Ashland, Ore. – Southern Oregon fought off the visiting Concordia Cavaliers with an impressive shooting performance to advance to the second round of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament with a 100-88 victory Wednesday night at Bob Reihm Arena.
With this win, the Raiders improve to 23-8 overall and will travel to Le Grand Ore. to take on No. 2 Eastern Oregon in the semifinals of the CCC tournament on Saturday.
After failing to score in the first half for the Raiders, junior guard Kyle Tedder finished the night with a game high 33 points shooting 9-of-16 from the field and 10-of-12 from the line. Junior center David Sturner added 21 points and nine rebounds while sophomore forward Eric Thompson tallied 15 points for his team.
For the Cavaliers, guard Anthony Holton totaled a team high of 23 points while forward Adam Herman completed a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The first half started off close with both teams battling for a lead but a string of easy misses by Southern Oregon allowed Concordia to pull away with a 10 point lead, their largest lead of the night, with 7:37 left in the first half.
“We felt like we were getting decent shots in the first half, missed a few insiders,” said head coach Brian McDermott, “they had a few guys just making tough shots.”
A couple of threes by Sturner and two quick baskets by freshman guard Jacob Kaler fueled an 18-4 run by the Raiders allowing them to finish the first half with a 50-44 lead over the visitors, shooting 53 percent from the field.
The Raiders came out on fire in the second half holding on to their lead throughout the rest of the game forcing Concordia to play from behind. Tedder thrived during the second half scoring all his points, and shooting 5-of-10 from behind the arc. It seemed the moment the Cavaliers were about to make a comeback, Southern Oregon answered back with a few deep shots to keep the momentum in their favor.
“We shot 72 percent in the second half and no matter what happens on the other end that’s tough to overcome,” said McDermott, “It’s hard to beat a team that shoots like that.”
With one of the best shooting performances this year, the Raiders win their first home playoff game in six years and live to fight another day in the CCC tournament.
