With one second left, Dex Daum provided the clinching dunk for the Raiders against Concordia on Friday.
Late Dunks Seal SOU win over Concordia
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Southern Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore.—Up one with 28 seconds remaining, the No. 12 Southern Oregon Raiders got the plays they needed at the end to escape an upset bid from Concordia as they topped the Cavs 77-72 on Friday.
Concordia’s Adam Herman made two free throws with 28 seconds left to bring his team within one at 73-72. The Cavaliers pressed after Herman’s makes too, hoping to get a steal without fouling and give themselves a chance to take a late lead. However, the Raiders’ Kyle Tedder broke the Cavs’ press and then found teammate David Sturner wide open on the right wing where Sturner took the ball and went in for a decisive dunk with 22 seconds left.
Sturner’s dunk still left the Cavs within three though, giving Concordia another chance to tie the game. The Cavs called a timeout with 16 seconds left to set up a play, then executed well out of the break as the Cavs’ Willy Ligon got the ball at the top of the three-point line with eight seconds left. Unfortunately for the Cavs, Ligon’s three-pointer bounced out, while the agonizingly long rebound fell to Sturner for the Raiders.
Once with the rebound, Sturner immediately threw an outlet pass to teammate Dex Daum, who was well clear of any Cavalier player hoping to foul in order to extend the game. In addition, Daum dunked the ball with just under a second left to give the game its final score of 77-72.
The tense final moments followed a tight final 10 minutes in which no lead seemed comfortable. Southern Oregon led 55-48 with 9:56 left in the game, but Concordia scored the next seven points to tie the game back up at 55-55. After that, the Raiders led by no more than five points the rest of the way, though Concordia could never get over the hump and take a lead.
The Raiders gave themselves the upper hand going into the final minutes after seizing control of the game with a 14-5 run near the start of the second half. The game had been tied 32-32 at the start of the second half, but the Raiders’ run gave them a 52-43 lead with 12:47 to play.
Sturner led the Raiders on their early, second-half run as he scored six of the Raiders’ 14 points during the stretch, while also grabbing four rebounds. Overall, Sturner led all players with game-highs of 19 points (on 7-of-10 shooting) and 12 rebounds. Besides Sturner, Tedder scored 16 points for the Raiders, while Eric Thompson scored 13 and Taylor Roos added 11.
As a team, the Raiders found their stroke in the second half as they went 16-of-23 from the field to shoot 69.6 percent in the second half. The Raiders had shot just 34.4 percent in the first half, but their efficient second half more than made up for it.
Meanwhile, Ligon led the Cavaliers with 12 points, all of which came in the second half, while Jesse Armstrong, Kory Kirwan and Adam Herman all tied with 11 points each. Herman, the CCC’s leading scorer with 25.1 points per game heading into the weekend, scored all 11 of his points in the second half after three quick fouls in the first half forced the all-conference forward to sit for much of the opening period. Herman wound up playing just four minutes in the first half, while the scoreless half was Herman’s first since Southern Oregon held him scoreless in the first half of their 80-77 win over the Cavaliers in Ashland back on Dec. 29, 2011.
On the bright side for the Cavs, Concordia center Justyn Searle fell just one point shy of a double-double as he totaled nine points and 10 rebounds on Friday to go along with three blocked shots.
With the win on Friday, Southern Oregon improves to 12-3 overall, while staying perfect in CCC play at 5-0. The Cavs on the other hand, drop to 4-7 overall and 0-4 in the CCC.
Both teams return to action tomorrow as the Raiders travel across town for a top 25 matchup against the No. 14-ranked Warner Pacific Knights, while the Cavs stay home to host Oregon Tech. Both games will tip off at 7:30 p.m.