Trey Fountain scored 15 points and handed out 5 assists as Multnomah fell on a last-second shot 83-80 to Southern Oregon at home Friday night.
SOUTHERN OREGON 83, MULTNOMAH 80: Raiders’ Last-Second Shot Sinks Scrappy Lions
PORTLAND, Ore. – A three-pointer from the right wing with 1.1 seconds left by Tristen Holmes enabled the visiting Southern Oregon Raiders, who only led for a little over two minutes all game, to escape with an 83-80 win over the upset-minded Multnomah University Lions in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball thriller Friday night here at Lytle Gym.
Multnomah came out firing on all cylinders and dominated the powerful Raiders, who are second among "others receiving votes" in the NAIA Division II, in the first half. Kenny Meyer's jumper 24 seconds into the game gave SOU the early lead, but the rest of the period belonged to the Lions, who shot .500 (17-34) in the half, including 10-of-22 from behind the arc.
Ben Grandle drained back-to-back three-pointers to put the Lions ahead, and their lead hit double digits on a
Brett Blackstock three that made it 25-13 with 8:55 to go. The lead blossomed to 18 at 37-19 on a
Jon Viles jumper with 4:40 left, and a
Trey Fountain scoop shot at the buzzer sent the Lions into the locker room with a 44-30 advantage. Southern Oregon shot only .394 (13-33) in the half, including a dismal .071 (1-14) on threes.
As frigid as the Raiders were in the opening half, they were equally as hot to start the final period, connecting on their first five shots and three of four free throws while the Lions were missing their first seven attempts. The resultant 16-0 run, capped by a Ben DeSaulnier three, gave the Raiders a 46-44 lead with 16:24 left, and the game was a tossup the rest of the way, with six ties and five more lead changes. SOU never led by more than three points, while Multnomah's biggest second-half lead was five on three different occasions, the last at 76-71 with 4:57 left following a driving layup by Fountain.
A jumper by Holmes and two Connor Carroll free throws drew the Raiders within one, then Fountain and SOU's Jordan Hunt swapped baskets. A
Darius Redrick layup made it 80-77 Lions with 2:33 to go, but Carroll knotted it for the final time with a trey at the 1:32 mark. Two missed Multnomah shots around a Southern Oregon turnover set up the final score, with Holmes connecting on his game-winner with 1.1 showing on the clock. A baseball pass to half-court was caught by Grandle, whose desperation three at the buzzer was on line but hit the back side of the rim and bounced away.
--- By the Numbers: Fountain, Grandle, and Blackstock all scored 15 points for the Lions, Grandle's total boosting his career amount to 1,022. The Lions finished with a .449 shooting mark (31-69), nailing 17-of-40 (.425) from downtown, but managed to get to the free throw line only once all night, making 1-of-2 while SOU was 12-of-14. Grandle and Blackstock had seven rebounds apiece, while Fountain handed out five assists and Grandle made three steals.
Carroll had 19 points, DeSaulnier 18, and Meyer 10 for the Raiders, who shot .471 (32-68) from the field, .269 (7-26) on threes. Holmes had a game-high 11 rebounds as SOU owned the boards 47-28, including 17 on the offensive end. Meyer, Holmes, and Hunt had three assists each.
Multnomah had its two-game winning streak snapped and is now 6-16 on the season and 3-10 in the conference. Southern Oregon improved to 14-7 overall with its fourth win in a row and 9-3 in the CCC.
--- Quoting MU coach Curt Bickley: "I am proud of the guys for not giving up when things went south in the second half. Our most unselfish game of the year, we really played as a team."
--- Next: Multnomah hosts the Oregon Institute of Technology while Southern Oregon goes to Warner Pacific College Saturday, both CCC games at 7:30 p.m. … Each will be preceded by CCC women's games at 5:30 p.m.