Southern Oregon University Athletics, Photo Credit Bob Palermini, www.palermini.com
This past weekend, the men’s Raider basketball team kicked off the season home opener with the Flagship Inn Classic. The men’s team played Montana Tech and the Park Gilbert Buccaneers. The women’s team hosted Embry-Riddle college this past Wednesday night for the second home game of the season.
Women’s
Wednesday night, the women’s basketball team put the beat down on Embry college. The women Raiders finished the night against the Eagles with a 29-point lead. The final score was 70-41. But the night didn’t start out in the Raiders’ favor. They were trailing in the first half and ended the half with the Eagles up by three, 23-20. After halftime, the Raiders turned up the heat with three Raiders leading the charge. Syd’Nee Fryer, a senior forward from Manteca, CA, scored 14 points on the night. She also had five aggressive steals. Each steal of Fryer’s shut down the momentum of the Eagles. Fryer also aided teammate Kami Walk, a sophomore forward from Eugene, OR. Walk scored an impressive 19 points for the Raiders and completed eight field goals. The third Raider standout of the night was Dominique Harding, a senior guard from Reno, NV. Harding scored 11 points with three field goals made out of five.
Kami Walk was also recently named the WVT Laboratory Women’s Basketball Player of the Week.
Men’s
The home opener for the men’s team started with a loss against Montana Tech. Tech and Raiders went point-for-point the entire night. But in the very last few minutes of the game, the favor fell onto Tech’s side of the court. Before Tech got ahead, the Raiders were leading the first half when the halftime buzzer sounded. When both teams headed into the locker room, the Raiders were leading by two points with a score of 33-31. Starting off the afternoon, Joe Juhala, a redshirt freshman from West Linn, OR, scored 10 points, was 4-4 with his field goals, and sunk a three as part of the 10 points. For the second half, Josh Meyer, a redshirt junior and forward for the team, picked up 13 points, was 3-5 on his three-point shots, and 2-2 with his free throws. Two other point leaders against Tech were K’wan Carter, a sophomore from Las Vegas, NV, who had 10 points, and Mason Whittaker, a redshirt freshman from Sparks, NV, who had 8 points. The Raiders were leading the second half, with Tech matching point for point in the very end. However tied at 68-68, a foul shot for Tech put the score to 69-68. Then, in the last minute and a half, Tech scored a three-pointer, putting up the final score of 72-68.
The next day of the tournament, the Raiders were ready for the Park Gilbert Buccaneers. Similar to the game against Tech, the Buccaneers matched point-for-point and going into half time had tied the game at 26-26. Point leaders in the first half of the game were Joe Juhala (6), Jake Virga (5), and Elijah Jackson (5). This game spoke volumes when Juhala started the first half early with a dunk. After halftime, Meyer lead the second half with 8 points. But it was Juhala’s assisted dunk from Tez Allen, a redshirt junior from Carson, NV, that set the tone of the second half. The other point score leaders of the second half were Juhala (6) and Carter (8). Towards the end of the game, Allen put up a three-pointer with 2:32 left on the clock. From there it was a series of timeouts and pushed fouls from the Buccaneers as they tried to make one final stand. The final score of the evening was 55-50 for a Raider win. The win against the Buccaneers was the second on the season for the men’s team.
Check out the schedules of the men’s and women’s teams below:
