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SOU men next face NAIA's No. 1 team By Rich Rosenthal For The Tidings Having erased a slow start with a three-game overall win streak and four consecutive at home, the Southern Oregon University men's basketball is red-hot at the ideal time entering Saturday night's Cascade Conference showdown against top-ranked and undefeated archrival Oregon Tech. A hostile capacity crowd is expected at Miles Court in Klamath Falls when the Raiders (6-10 overall, 2-2 CCC) tangle with the Owls (17-0, 4-0), and because Raider wins at OIT are even more rare than a presidential pardon, a victory would easily be the biggest upset in the 55-year, 189-game series between the longtime rivals. "No. 1, they're very good," SOU coach Brian McDermott said. "It's as balanced a team as (OIT coach Dan Miles) has ever had and they got great chemistry. We have to play extremely well, there's no doubt about that, and it's kind of the same stuff with them. You have to make sure they don't get you in transition and there's a few guys that you just can't let get loose." A positive outcome would also be Southern's first against a top-ranked NAIA team since a 94-93 shocker over then-defending national champion Hawaii Pacific that opened the 1993 season. Southern Oregon is paddling against history's mighty strong current. The Ashland school has already lost a pair of non-conference tilts to the Owls this season by an average of 17 points and is winless over the past 11 contests on the Tech home floor dating back to a double-overtime thriller during the 1998-99 championship season. In addition, OIT has not lost in the Klamath Basin since last Feb. 15, a 12-game span. But SOU limped into the previous two Oregon Tech games without several key players who were injured. "This is as healthy as we're going to be," McDermott said. "We've lost two kids, but this is as good as we're going to get. It'll be a different team (playing OIT) this time. "We're playing much better, we're much more solid. We're getting better defense. We were not a good defensive team in the first 10 games or so, we've improved a lot. It's an improvement to where we think we can win most night's out." Southern Oregon's recent resurgence also coincides with the addition of sophomore forward Travis Elam to the roster. The Raiders are 3-0 with the 6-4 Powers native in the starting lineup, and the junior college All-American triple and high-jumper is averaging 9.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and two dunks in four games since becoming academically eligible on Dec.18. Nicknamed "The Freak" by teammates (short for "Freak of Nature") due to his 40-plus-inch vertical leap and seven-foot high-jumping skills, Elam notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds last Saturday against Warner Pacific. Prior to transferring to SOU from Clark (Wash.) JC last year, Elam's previous hoops experience was merely a two-year prep stint that concluded in 1999. Few basketball teams (if any) are hotter than Oregon Tech, which leads the league in virtually every team statistical category as a result of toppling foes by an 85-68 average margin. OIT's best start ever is fueled by the Big Three: senior 6-foot-9 all-star center Alassane Bakayoko and juniors Todd Matthews, a point guard, and Kevin "Shot-Maker" Baker, a power forward. Bakayoko, who hails from the Ivory Coast, ranks 10th in the loop for rebounding (6.7) and a team-best 12th for scoring (14.7). Matthews, an Australian, leads the league in steals (3.56) and is second for assists (7.75) to go along with a 11.6 scoring output, while Baker is 15th for scoring (13.4) and sixth for 3-point makes (31). Oregon Tech won both of the previous season meetings: 96-77 in Klamath Falls on Nov. 10 and 73-59 at McNeal Pavilion 18 days later. Baker averaged 17 points and nine rebounds in the wins. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -