Box Score ASHLAND, Ore. – Southern Oregon showed why it is ranked No. 11 in the NAIA Division II men's basketball national poll, building a 26-point halftime lead in beating The Evergreen State College, 105-72, in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball contest played Friday night in Bob Riehm Arena.
The talented, tall and deep Raiders, now 15-3 overall and 5-2 in the CCC, put on a first-half shooting clinic in building their insurmountable lead. They were 20-for-23 from the field, or 87 percent, during the opening 20 minutes of the game. In the second half they "cooled down" to just 61 percent to finish at 72.5 percent overall, making 37 of their 51 total attempts.
In addition, SOU was 13-for-21 from three-point range, or 62 percent, and they were also extremely accurate at the foul line, hitting 82 percent on 18-for-22.
Eric Thompson, the preseason selection as the conference player of the year, led all participants with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Jacob Kaler and Ben DeSaulnier came off the bench to add 17 and 14 points, respectively, for the winners.
Marquise Doss had his best scoring game of the season, leading Evergreen with 17 points.
Jordan Dam scored 16 points and
Alix Hernandez added 10 in a losing cause. The Geoducks are now 3-10 overall and 0-6 in conference action.
Evergreen shot 40 percent from the field, 26-for-65, and just 26 percent, 8-for-31, from beyond the three-point line.
Because of Southern Oregon's spot-on shooting there weren't a whole lot of rebounds to gather, but the hosts got more than their share of those with 42 compared to just 15 for the Geoducks.
Southern Oregon built a six-point lead just two minutes into the contest, but the Geoducks battled back to tie it at 15-15 on a three-pointer by Hernandez with 15:22 showing on the clock. Dam then rebounded one of the Raiders' few first half misses and converted it into a fast break layup on the other end to give the visitors their only lead of the game.
After that it was all Southern Oregon.
Evergreen returns to conference action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when it plays Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls.
