SOU honored seniors Terriel Thomas and Taylor Roos before Saturday's game
SOU Men Close Regular Season with 74-64 Win Over Northwest Christian
BOX SCORE
ASHLAND – Juniors Jeff Bush and Kyle Tedder stole the show on Senior Night, combining for 12 three-pointers as the 21st-ranked Southern Oregon men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a 74-64 Cascade Collegiate Conference victory over Northwest Christian.
Southern Oregon clinches the third seed in the CCC Tournament with a 13-5 conference record, 22-8 overall. The Raiders will host sixth-seeded Concordia in a first round matchup on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Northwest Christian ends its season with a 9-21 overall record, 3-15 in conference play.
The Raiders honored seniors Taylor Roos and Terriel Thomas in a ceremony prior to tipoff, with both receiving starting nods for the game. But it was the junior duo that shot SOU to the victory. Tedder made seven threes to score a game-high 23 points and tied Bush for the team lead with five assists. Bush made eight of his 10 shot attempts – including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc – to score a career-high 22 points. Eric Thompson added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Jordan Buhler and Trevor Parker both scored 13 points to lead Northwest Christian, with Buhler adding 10 rebounds to earn a double-double. The Raiders shot 53.7 percent (29-of-54) in the game and 52 percent (13-of-25) from long range while limiting the Beacons to 41.2 percent shooting (28-of-68). Southern Oregon also out-rebounded NCU 39-to-30 to help the hosts overcome an 18-to-7 disadvantage in the turnover column.
The Raiders scored nine of the first 11 points to claim an early lead, but the Beacons countered with nine straight to take their first lead of the game at 11-9 five minutes into the first half. Southern Oregon worked its lead back up to seven when a Tedder three made it 22-15 with just under nine minutes to play in the period, but NCU again rallied to take a two-point lead at 28-26 before another Tedder trey in the final minute gave SOU a 29-28 halftime advantage.
Southern Oregon took its first double-digit lead of the game on another three by Tedder, going up 43-33 four minutes into the second half. Northwest Christian pulled back within six, but six straight three-point makes by the Raiders stretched the hosts’ lead to as many as 20 points with 6:28 to go. Seniors Roos and Thomas left the game with just under a minute remaining to a standing ovation from the SOU crowd of nearly 1,100 people.