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--> --> Dec. 20: Struggles continue at home for SOU By Bobby Heiken Ashland Daily Tidings Southern Oregon University men's basketball coach Brian McDermott wasn't fooled. His Raiders went on a 13-0 run midway through the second half to show some glimpse of life - but at the end it was The Evergreen State College rolling to an 87-68 victory at McNeal Pavilion Wednesday night. "When you are down 20 at halftime, the only way to go is up," McDermott said. "Yeah, we did some nice things, but how did we get into that position? The pressure was off. We've got to learn how to play when it's even." For the second straight night at home Southern Oregon (4-7, 0-2) looked absolutely helpless on the offensive end during the first half. The Raiders hit on 29 percent of their shots (10-for-34) and trailed 46-26 after one unemotional half of basketball. Evergreen (6-5, 1-1) on the other hand was on fire. The Geoducks hit 15 of 27 shots from the field and went 6-for-10 from the 3-point line and converted 10 of 12 free throws. "That's the most athletic team in the conference and they shot out of their minds," McDermott said. "But we came out and were intimidated by better athletes. That should never happen." The Raiders picked up the intensity to start the second half. Seniors Jeff Tacheny and Hamilton Barnes and junior Moses Olson each hit on back-to-back baskets to cut the Evergreen lead to 54-42 with 15:02 to play. A vicious one-handed hammer-dunk by Evergreen junior Mike Parker pushed the Geoduck lead back up to 65-48 before the Raiders took off. Senior Matt Zosel hit on three straight - including a dunk of his own - and Barron Lacy added a driving layup to trim the lead to 65-56. The Raider defense took over next as junior Brandon Knudsen made a steal in the open court and raced for a layup, and then a turnover led to a 3-pointer by junior Oscar Rodriguez to get the Raiders within four at 65-61 with just under seven minutes to play. Five straight free throws by Olson kept the Raiders close at 71-66, but finally the stagnant offense returned and dashed any hopes of the miracle finish SOU was hoping for. A possession in which the Raiders never got the ball below the 3-point line led to another highlight reel dunk by Parker and eventually the lead was back to double digits. The insane shooting numbers lasted all game for the Geoducks as they finished with a 54 percent (27-for-50) effort from the floor, 50 percent from the 3-point line (7-for-14) and 86 percent (26-for-30) from the free throw line. Evergreen senior Quincy Wilder turned in a game-high 25 points, including a 2-for-3 effort from 3-point land. "When things are going good, they really go good," McDermott said. "Quincy came into the game 4-for-38 in 3-pointers and tonight he couldn't miss." Teammate Andre Stewart added 21 points and three 3's. For the Raiders, Olson lived up to his preseason hype with a career-high 24 points on 7 of 11 shooting and three 3-pointers. The former Class 4A all-state product from Churchill High also hit on all seven of his free throw attempts to improve to 25 of 25 on the year. Zosel was the lone Raider in double figures with 10. "Moses did a nice job for us tonight but we don't have any consistency," McDermott said. "It's one guy one night and another guy the next night. And it's never four guys every night. Until that happens we are in trouble." Voted to finish fourth in the conference by coaches at the beginning of the year, the Raiders find themselves in a huge hole at 0-2 before Christmas and they haven't even played national ranked Oregon Tech, Western Baptist and Albertson in conference action. The Raiders have now lost four straight - two back-to-back at home - and the 19-point loss Wednesday night was SOU's most lopsided home league loss since 1997. "Right now we're not the fourth-best team in the conference," McDermott said. "It would be one thing if we were bad and we had bad players, but we've got good players. I see it every day in practice." The Raiders play their last non-conference game Saturday when they face NCAA Division I foe University of San Diego at Jenny Craig Pavilion. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing