ASHLAND – The offenses, or at least the shooting strokes, were in midseason form on Thursday night at Lithia Motors Pavilion, and Atmar Mundu made Southern Oregon's a touch better in a 94-88 upset of No. 6 ranked William Jessup (Calif.).
Five days after the Raiders let a second-half lead slip away and fell in overtime at WJU, they got revenge in the first game of the Flagship Inn Classic and their home debut. Mundu scored a career-high 24 the first time around against the Warriors, and he easily eclipsed that total with 32 in the rematch – shooting 9-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3-point range.
The senior guard outdueled WJU All-American Cashemin Williams, who shined with 26 points and 11 assists. Mundu scored 16 in both halves, and with seven minutes left he drove to the bucket for a three-point play that gave the Raiders a lead for good at 77-75. Two minutes later, he dribbled into a 3-pointer five feet behind the line that went through to make it 82-75.
Mundu's last big play of the night was a pass that he dumped off to Dominic McGarvey for a layup and five-point edge with 27 seconds left. Mundu knocked down three free throws after that to finish off the win.
McGarvey, a junior forward, scored 10 of his 14 in the second half and totaled nine rebounds and four blocked shots. SOU's three other starters also scored in double figures: Will Graves (12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Tez Allen (11 points) and Josh Meyer (10 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists). Cole McAninch had four assists off the bench.
The Raiders shot 50 percent from the field. They went 14-of-31 from 3 after shooting 13-of-52 combined beyond the arc in their first two games. WJU (3-2) was equally sharp at 52 percent from the field and 11-of-22 from 3 with just seven turnovers.
SOU improved to 2-1 ahead of Saturday's 7 p.m. matchup against Huntington (Ind.) in the final game of the Classic.
WJU and Huntington will match up at 7 p.m. Friday.