Eric Thompson poured in 26 points Saturday against William Jessup.
KLAMATH FALLS – The Southern Oregon University men's basketball team got better as the name on the front of their uniforms got more accurate this weekend at Oregon Tech's Midland Empire Classic.
Back in their Southern Oregon reds Saturday, the fourth-ranked Raiders were too much for William Jessup in a 92-66 win at Danny Miles Court. Eric Thompson put up game-highs of 28 points and nine rebounds and SOU limited the Warriors to 37.9-percent shooting from the field.
The Raiders (5-1 overall) left the tournament with a sweep, although they had to beat Westminster on Friday wearing their arch-rival Oregon Tech's gold Hustlin' Owl jerseys because the uniforms they brought were the wrong color. Thompson was considerably more comfortable in his own gear, rebounding from a 2-for-10 showing to go 11-for-16 overall and 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
Kyle Tedder went for 15 points and three rebounds, Tim Weber had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists with a couple dunks, and Jeff Bush had five points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Raiders went into halftime with a 21-point lead thanks to a 10-2 run capped by Jordan West's jumper before the buzzer. William Jessup (4-4), a night after defeating Oregon Tech for the second time in two weeks, never got closer than 16 after that and SOU led by as many as 30 when Thompson converted his last bucket with five minutes left.
Corey Clement led four Warriors in double figures with 19 points. They went 9-for-30 from the field in the first half while misfiring on 11 of 13 from downtown.
Twenty-four of SOU's 35 buckets were assisted and the Raiders committed just 10 turnovers.
SOU will return to Klamath Falls on Tuesday for a nonconference contest against Oregon Tech. On Friday and Saturday the Raiders will host the Flagship Inn Classic at Bob Riehm Arena in their final tune-ups for Cascade Conference play.