SOU Rallies for OT Victory Over No. 10 Evergreen
EUGENE -- The Southern Oregon men’s basketball snapped a four-game losing streak and shocked 10th-ranked Evergreen State with an 86-81 victory tonight.
Southern Oregon improved to 6-13 overall and 4-6 in Cascade Conference play. Evergreen State dropped to 11-6 overall and 7-3 in conference action. SOU also knocked off then fifth-ranked Eastern Oregon in December to start off Cascade Conference play.
Five Raiders finished with double-digit scoring, led by Humphrey Jackson’s 19 points. Eli Thornton finished with 17 points and Josh McDermott and Joe White both had 12 points and Dustin Vaughn had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Nate Menefee led Evergreen State with a game-high 23 points, but shot only 8-for-26 from the field.
The Raiders started off hot early taking a 6-0 lead before the two teams battled back and forth with Evergreen State leading 17-16 with 14:36 to play.
But the Geoducks quickly went on a 9-0 run in just over a minute of action to push the lead to 26-16.
SOU didn’t go away though, trimming the lead to 40-37 on a Humphrey Jackson jumper at the halftime buzzer. Menefee led Evergreen with 15 points in the first half.
White tied the game for the third time in the half at 63-63 with a free throw and McDermott tied it at 65-65 with a basket to get the Raiders back in the game.
Evergreen then went on a 7-0 run to push the advantage to 72-65.
Jackson hit a late 3-pointer cut the lead to 77-74 with 25 seconds to play, and an Evergreen turnover with 11 seconds to play set up White’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Thornton hit a basket, got fouled and made the free throw to give SOU an 80-77 lead. McDermott then went 1-for-2 from the line to push the advantage to four at 81-77.
White then put the dagger in the Geoducks with a breakaway layup to push the lead up to 85-77.
SOU returns to McNeal Pavilion Friday night when they host Northwest University.