Eli Thornton skies for a basket against OIT
SOU Men Down OIT For First Time Since 2001-02
ASHLAND, ORE. - The Southern Oregon men’s basketball team knocked off Oregon Tech 74-61 for the first time since 2001-02 tonight at McNeal Pavilion.
Southern Oregon improved to 9-17 overall and 7-10 in Cascade Conference games and also knocked off their third nationally ranked Top 10 team. Second-ranked Oregon Tech fell to 22-5 overall and 12-5 in conference action.
“More than ending the streak, which was important, getting another quality win like that is huge,” SOU head coach Brian McDermott said. “It’s been a few years since we’ve had this many quality wins. Hopefully that’s a sign.”
Junior Jarrad Childs led all scorers with 24 points, including a 13 for 18 effort from the free throw line. Childs also had a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Eli Thornton finished with 14 points and six rebounds and senior Josh McDermott finished with 12 points.
Justin Parnell scored 22 points and Jguwon Hogges finished with 14 points. The duo of Parnell and Hogges shot just 11 of 32 from the field and combined for 13 of OIT’s 23 turnovers.
After trailing for much of the first half and 28-23 at halftime, the defending National Champion Owls came out on fire in the second half and took a 41-40 lead with 12:10 to play.
The Owls pushed the lead to 45-42 before freshman Joe White tied the game at 45-45 on a 3-pointer with 8:34 left.
McDermott, who had not beaten the Owls during his four years as a Raider, then connected on a jumper in the paint and a deep 3-pointer to push the lead to 50-45.
The Owls answered again and cut the lead to one at 50-49 before layups by Thornton and Childs pushed the advantage to 56-51.
After a pair of free throws by Humphrey Jackson and another Thornton layup, the Raiders were cruising at 60-52 with just over three minutes to play.
The Raiders then went on to hit 11 straight free throws in a two minute stretch to ice the game.
Defensively, the Raiders held the Owls to 40 percent shooting from the field, 23 percent shooting from 3-point line and 56 percent shooting from the free throw stripe.
“That was as committed to a scouting report that we’ve been since we beat (then fifth-ranked) Eastern Oregon,” McDermott said.
The victory moves the Raiders into seventh place in the race for the eight Cascade Conference tournament berths by a half-game over eighth place Northwest and a full game over Corban. SOU hosts Northwest Christian Friday night.