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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 2, 2006 Raiders to open with W. Jewell Get tough draw against former No. 2 team Wire Reports McDermott The second-place teams from two of the NAIA’s best men’s basketball leagues face off in the opening round of next week’s single-elimination NAIA Division II Tournament in Point Lookout, Mo. The unseeded Cascade Conference runner-up Raiders (23-8) tangle with No. 13 draw William Jewell College (26-7) of the Heart of America Conference at 3:45 p.m. Pacific time on March 8. The winner faces either tourney host and fourth-seeded College of the Ozarks or Dominican University (Calif.) in the second round on Friday evening. “(William Jewell) is a very physical team,” 10th-year Raider coach Brian McDermott said. “They are extremely well-coached, and I fully expect them to pound the ball inside (the paint).” Guided by NAIA Hall of Fame coach and 700-game winner Larry Holley, the Cardinals lost to 15th-seeded Evangel (Mo.), 68-66, in the HAAC tournament finals Monday evening after finishing behind regular-season champion and No. 8 draw Lindenwood (Mo.). The 1,300-student Liberty, Mo. liberal arts college features a senior-laden all-star lineup headlined by 6-foot-4 forward Drew Mathews, who led the HAAC in scoring (18.2 points per game) and was second for rebounds (8.7). Beefy 6-foot-8, 280-pound center Ronald Robinson is averaging 15 points and seven boards per outing, and the Cardinal guard line is headlined by 3-point sharpshooter Cam Cooper (12.5 ppg) and floor general Kyle Lower, who ranks 12th nationally for assists (5.8 assists per game). William Jewell and its disciplined offense is fifth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.46-to-1), and SOU is No. 2 on the same list (1.28-to-1). Southern is third nationally for scoring defense (61.1), while Jewell is seventh (63.5). The pairing is an especially tough draw for Southern Oregon considering the Raiders spent a month ranked No. 1 nationally fueled by a 15-game win streak during November and December. Ranked 13th in the final top-25 poll, the Raiders, however, enter the 32-team tournament on a three-game slide that wrecked league regular-season and playoff title hopes. “We were punished for our clumsy finish,” McDermott said, “and we probably got what we deserved. But if we play well, we have as good of a chance as anybody in the tournament.” Last year, SOU won the school’s first two national tournament games, and the No. 12 seed zoomed into the Elite Eight, where the Raiders suffered a heartbreaking last-second 66-64 loss to Cedarville (Ohio) in the national quarterfinals. William Jewell, which is making its 11th NAIA tourney appearance under Holley’s leadership, lost to Cedarville in the second round last year after earning the tournament’s top seed. The Cardinals were ranked No. 3 (behind Southern) in the 2005-06 NAIA Div. II preseason poll and rose to No. 2 when the Raiders took over the top spot in the Dec. 7 rating. The Raiders depart for Missouri Monday morning. Southern Oregon is making its fifth NAIA men’s basketball tournament appearance since 1948, and this year marks the program’s first back-to-back qualification. The 2005-06 squad is only the fourth Raider team ever to compile 23 season victories, and a win over WJC would allow this year’s team to equal the 1947-48 campaign for most wins in a single year. McDermott is one of only a handful of coaches to lead two different schools to the NAIA Tournament Elite Eight (Dakota State, 1992; Southern Oregon, 2005). His teams have earned four national tournament berths, including three as SOU’s mentor. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams