C of I Pulls Out 65-52 Win Over SOU
ASHLAND, Ore. -- The College of Idaho Coyotes continued their quest for a Cascade Conference home playoff spot with a hard-fought 65-52 victory over the struggling SOU Raiders Friday night at McNeal Pavilion.
The win puts the Coyotes at 11-12 overall and 8-5 in league play. SOU suffered its third consecutive loss and fell to 7-16 overall and 3-10 in league play.
Tonight's game was close all the way with C of I jumping out to a 24-21 halftime lead. The pace of the game was slow as SOU played with a major lineup change. Leading scorer Matt Cowell, injured an ankle last weekend at Evergreen, did not play. Josh McDermott was hobbled by an ankle sprain but played.
SOU held C of I to 1-9, three point shooting in the first half, but the 'Yotes struck five times in the second half with 3's including 3-6 for Josh Owen who ended up leading scorer for the Coyotes with 18 points. Bryan Champ added 13 points, Anton Coleman 12 and Kurt Nielson 10.
The Raiders were led by Ryon Pool who scored 20 points while Josh McDermott added 10. Nate Rooney chipped in nine points including back to back 3's late in the game.
SOU shot 39.1%6 from the field, while C of I hit 42% SOU was 5-15 from 3pt range while C of I shot 6-18 or 33.3%. SOU was 11-16 free throw shooting and C of I, 17-22 or 77%.
C of I heads to Klamath Falls to play Oregon Tech Saturday night. OIT defeated Eastern Oregon 96-79. EOU and OIT and now tied for first place in the Cascade Conference. With the loss for SOU, the Raiders are two games out of the final playoff spot with seven games to play.
Friday night, a strong second half made the difference for the Coyotes in securing their win in Ashland.