Knights Deal Southern Oregon First CCC Loss
PORTLAND, Ore. – Warner Pacific needed overtime to defeat Southern Oregon 91-88 in a clash of top 15 teams inside C.C. Perry gym tonight, handing SOU their first Cascade Conference loss.
The host Knights (11-4, 4-1 CCCbuilt a lead of 21 points in the second period and seemed ready to cruise to the win, but had to withstand a furious comeback from the Raiders (12-4, 5-1 CCC) and endure a tense overtime period to claim the win.
WPC led 36-25 at halftime, and outscored SOU 14-4 to open the second half to open up their largest lead of the game at 50-29 with 14:59 to play. Ryan Parks had the hot hand for Warner Pacific, as the sophomore finished the game with a career high eight three pointers made on 12 attempts. Knight shooters began to cool off as the game wore on however, and Southern Oregon began to make a charge.
The Raiders closed the regulation time with a 14-5 run in the final minute. Kyle Tedder buried a pair of three pointers to pull SOU within two, and after the second trey WPC was whistled for a dead ball foul on the inbounds, which gave the Raiders a chance with two seconds on the clock. Tim Weber lobbed a pass to David Sturner who finished at the rim to send the game to overtime.
Warner Pacific scored first in the extra period and led the entire five minutes. Paced by Stephen Harris’ 6 of 6 effort, the Knights canned 11 of 12 tries from the line to keep their advantage, offsetting two more makes from distance by SOU. Weber had a decent look as time expired, but his three point attempt fell short and the Knights escaped with the three point victory.
Parks led all scorers with a season best 25 points, while Josh Black also scored a career high 19 points for WPC. Harris added 18 points and 18 rebounds.
Sturner dropped in 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for SOU, while Tedder contributed 19 points including five makes from behind the arc.