Box Score
EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team led a seven-point halftime lead slip away and watched a golden opportunity fall through their fingers, falling 71-69 in overtime to No. 16 Southern Oregon University in the Morse Event Center on Friday night.
A battle for the ages saw NCU and the Raiders fight through eleven ties and 15 lead changes. Southern Oregon established an early 7-4 lead and was ahead 11-10 with 10:24 remaining when the Beacons took charge. Using a 10-0 run during which SOU turned the ball over five times and missed seven shots, Northwest Christian claimed a 20-11 lead. They would hang on for a 27-20 advantage at the intermission.
An early bucket by Jordan Buhler gave NCU another nine-point lead and with 17:06 to play, the Beacons still held onto a 34-25 advantage. SOU, however, was out to prove why they are one of the top-25 teams in the country, eight straight points fueled by back-to-back treys from Dex Daum. The Raiders continued to rally and finally took back the lead, 39-37 on a Kyle Tedder layup with 11:11 to play.
The teams continued to trade leads over the final ten minutes with SOU moving ahead 62-60 with 38 seconds to play on another Tedder drive down the lane. NCU responded on their final possession with Buhler hitting a layup with six seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime.
The Beacons seemed to be in control during the overtime period taking the early lead on a Trevor Parker jumper from the elbow. The Raiders kept it close as the score flopped between a small NCU lead or a tie with David Sturner putting up a layup with 55 seconds to play to even the score at 68-68.
On the next NCU possession, Buhler was fouled and with 39 seconds remaining, went to the line for two. He made his first freebie and after a brief delay due to an issue with the clock, missed the second, giving Southern the ball back for another possession.
Trailing by one with 24 seconds to play, Tedder was fouled, only the SOU junior connected on both of his attempts to give the lead back to the Raiders for good. NCU missed on a three-point attempt on their next possession and Southern Oregon had put away the victory.
NCU (6-4, 0-1 CCC) was led by Buhler, who took over the game and finished with team-highs of 25 points, ten rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. Both Buhler and Travis Pacos played all 45 minutes for the Beacons with Pacos putting together one of the best nights of his young career. The sophomore scored 14 points, adding seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, seeming to be involved in every play on both sides of the court all evening.
Greg Shepard added eleven points and eight rebounds, hitting three three-pointers. The Beacons out-rebounded the Raiders 42-40 and had 18 offensive boards in the game and had just 11 turnovers while forcing SOU to cough up the ball 23 times. Jordan Myers collected five of NCU’s 14 steals.
Southern Oregon (7-3, 1-0) had five players in double-figures, none more important than Daum who went 5-for-5 from three-point range, all in the second half as the Raiders mounted their comeback. He finished with a team-high 17 points. Eric Thompson added 13 points and eleven rebounds and Jeff Bush scored ten points with a game-high seven assists. Tedder (11) and Terriel Thomas (10) led a deep bench effort as the SOU reserves outscored their Northwest Christian University counterparts, 24-11.
Northwest Christian will return to action on Saturday night, playing host to defending NAIA National Champion Oregon Tech. Southern Oregon travels to Salem to face Corban University. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 pm.