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By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings March 13. 2015 5:28PM West's 32 powers No. 21 Southern Oregon into Elite Eight Jordan West Jordan West is having a tournament to remember and the Raiders are headed back to the Elite Eight. A day after scoring the game-winning basket against Midland West poured in a career-high 32 points, including the go-ahead free throws with 38 seconds to go, as 21st-ranked Southern Oregon beat 24th-ranked Grace 68-62 Friday in the second round of the NAIA Division II men’s basketball tournament in Point Lookout, Mo. The win advances the Raiders to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2005. They’ve never played in a Final Four, but can earn that right Saturday with a win over second-ranked Embry-Riddle. “We’re not getting it done real pretty, but we’re getting it done,” SOU head coach Brian McDermott said. With the game tied and under 50 seconds to go the Raiders (26-9) went inside to West and the 6-foot-8 junior center, who hit 13 of 21 shots, came through by drawing a foul on Dennis Williams. West calmly swished both free throws with 38 seconds left to put the Raiders ahead to stay, 64-62. The Lancers (22-11) were gifted a chance to answer when Joel Spear bumped Logan Irwin 30 feet from the basket with 22 seconds to go, but Irwin missed the front end of a one-and-one and SOU’s Eric Thompson corralled the rebound. Three seconds later Williams was whistled for a technical foul after getting in the face of SOU guard Tim Weber. SOU freshman Ben DeSaulnier hit 1 of 2 free throws and Weber drained both of his to put the game out of reach. For the second day in a row Southern Oregon played from behind most of the way, and for the second day in a row the Raiders proved to be the better team under pressure. Down by as many as 10 points in the first half, they didn’t take their first lead of the game until West’s inside hoop put them up 50-49 with 11:08 to go. That was part of a 15-4 run that gave Southern Oregon a 59-53 lead with 6 minutes left. Grace came back to tie the game on a free throw by Dennis Williams with 50 seconds left, but Williams bricked his second free throw, blowing what turned out to be the Lancers’ last chance to reclaim the lead. “I think we kept switching defenses until we finally got three, four stops in a row and that hadn’t happened for most of the game,” McDermott said. “Then when it did we just stayed with what we were doing and kept grinding. They gave us a lot of one-on-one opportunities inside and we just kept going there.” West and Weber, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds and two steals, carried the day for the Raiders, who survived an off day by both Thompson and the bench. Thompson, the Raiders’ leading scorer and rebounder, was held to 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting and five boards, and the SOU bench was outscored by the Grace reserves 19-0. But once again the Raiders made up for their flaws with clutch plays and crisp execution. West was often the beneficiary of that execution but he also generated his own offense, employing a variety of hooks and spin moves in addition to cutting to the basket for several easy layups. He kept the Raiders in the game by scoring 19 points in the first half then added 13 more in the second, barely missing what would have been a fitting exclamation point when his 3-point attempt with 1:22 to go rattled halfway down the hoop and back out again. “Jordan West has been good all year and he was spectacular tonight,” McDermott said. “We talked about getting the ball inside a bunch because they weren’t very big. The kid that guarded (West) was actually 6-11, but he’s not very mobile. So Jordan scored on a number of cuts where the guy just couldn’t keep up. And then he beasted some people down low. He did it in a variety of ways.” Caleb Featherston paced Grace with 13 points, Irwin and Chad Hoffer scored 12 apiece and Brand Vanderhegghen had 11 points, four rebounds and four steals. Williams added nine boards. Now the Raiders will try to do something that hasn’t been done since Jan. 20 – a span of 17 games – and beat Embry-Riddle (Fla.), which is 34-1 after an 89-75 second-round win over 15th-ranked Union. The Sun Conference regular-season and tournament-champion Eagles lead the nation in wins and have advanced to the national tournament five out of the last six years. McDermott watched the Eagles steamroll Union and was very impressed. “They’re a big, physical team that’s very well coached,” he said. “They’re physical at every position and very athletic. They just have got the whole package. There’s a reason why they’re 34-1.” Joe Zavala can be reached at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150313/SPORTS/150319890 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->