Document text
May 28, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels February 2, 2004 SOU men stay in Cascade Conference hunt Raiders hold off stubborn, upset-minded Northwest squad to post 69-66 victory By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings The Southern Oregon men's basketball team (15-12, 10-3) may be in the upper ranks of the Cascade Conference standings, but Saturday's 69-66 win over league cellar-dweller Northwest (8-17, 2-10) illustrated how easy that worst-to-first jump can be. The Raiders know it. They opened the conference season 1-1 on the heels of an 8-22 finish to the 2002-03 season. But Southern made the jump, latching onto a tie for second place in CCC standings with archrival Oregon Tech. The Eagles knew that. But they also knew that Southern had barely defeated them in Kirkland, Wash. at the beginning of January. The Raiders high-tailed it out of Washington with a 59-58 victory. On Saturday, the margin widened to three points. Again, the win went to Southern, but the 69-66 score could have gone either way. Shooting without Shea The Raiders, who rely heavily on sophomore forward Shea Washington for points, rebounds and leadership on the court, had to adjust Saturday. The Montana State-transfer has recorded 12 double-doubles this season and is ranked first in loop standings for rebounds. But, on Saturday night at McNeal Pavilion, Washington got into foul trouble early and, 10 minutes into the first half, was plopped on the pine with two fouls, one rebound and seven points. "They have an inside presence and, because of that, they got our big guys in trouble," eighth-year Raider head coach Brian McDermott said. "That changed the whole game. We had all of our big guys out." By the end of the first half, 6-foot-3 forward Jim Voeks and 6-7 forward Jared Abell had each matched Washington with two fouls apiece. Six-foot-7 center Nick Borrevik out-did them all with three fouls. That left a lot of room for the rest of the Raiders to find a new way to win. "The first half we played a smaller line-up and we attacked the gaps," McDermott said. "They did a very nice job." Following a 21-all score with seven minutes left in the first half, Southern tormented the Eagles with two 8-0 runs that left Northwest down 41-30 at the half. "They shot well and the first half we did a great job of rebounding," McDermott said. "That's why we had the lead." The problem? A basketball game has two halves. It just happened Northwest didn't explode out of the locker room with a crushing defense or an amazing shooting arsenal. The Eagles just picked away at the 11-point Raider lead shot-by-shot. The clocked showed 7:43 and the game was locked up at 57. "I was concerned," McDermott said. "For too much of the game we were playing without Shea and he anchors our defense." With the big guys back in, the Raiders put a two-point cushion between the home team and Northwest, but it wouldn't hold up. Northwest forward Tyson Dodd hit a 3-pointer with 3:12 left in regulation that gave the Eagles a one-point lead at 64-63. Southern's response: a deuce by junior forward Jim Voeks that drew the foul from freshman Northwest forward Aaron Sawyer. That was Sawyer's fifth violation, after putting up 13 Eagle points in 19 minutes of play. Voeks swished the one-and-one shot and the Raiders led by two, 66-64. But it wasn't over. The Eagles knotted the game at 66 on their next possession, leaving Southern with just over two minutes to figure out a way to avoid the upset. Getting that win "Up-tempo leads really aren't that big," McDermott explained. "You can see, one shot made a difference. It's just one possession." The Raiders had two big possessions in the final two minutes - possessions that landed them at the charity stripe. In the final two minutes, Southern shot 3-of-4 from the foul line while holding the Eagles scoreless. "To win close games like this, you have to make big plays at both ends," McDermott said. "We did that." In doing so, Washington scored a team-high 20 points. Sophomore guard Peter Nelson had 14 and Abell added 12. Northwest's Aaron Gard led all players with 21. With the victory, Southern rounded out the weekend at home 2-0 as they head into the final third of the conference season. "We're 10-3. We're happy," McDermott said. "It's where we need to be. A week from now, no one will know [Saturday' game] was that was that close. It won't even matter." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams