Box Score
ASHLAND, Ore. - The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team let a five-point halftime lead slip away as they lost their Cascade Conference opener on Friday night to Southern Oregon, 63-59.
The Raiders shot 55.6% from the field in the second half as they battled back from a 29-24 NCU lead at the break, taking the lead at the ten-minute mark. SOU had led by as many as six points in the first ten minutes of the game, but NCU used an eight-point run to take the lead and set up a second-half that featured five ties and five lead changes.
SOU scored the first four points of the second period and tied it up 33-33 on a pair of free-throws. NCU built the lead back up to five points at 45-40 on a
Trevor Parker three-pointer with 12:57 to play. Then the Raiders caught fire, using a ten point-run that featured eight free-throws to turn the five points NCU lead into a five-point SOU advantage with just under eight minutes remaining.
NCU tied the game at 52-52 following a
Jordan Myers three-pointer and a pair of free-throws from
Greg Shepard. A few minutes later,
Jordan Buhler hit a layup to give NCU their final lead at 57-55. Eric Thompson hit a clutch three-pointer on the other end to put SOU back up by one with less than two minutes to play and neither team would score until there were less than 15 seconds remaining. The Raiders put the game away at the charity stripe, hitting 5-of-6 free-throws to close it out.
The Beacons (5-5, 0-1 CCC) were led by
Travis Pacos (pictured), scoring 13 points off the bench. Parker added 12 points and four steals and Buhler finished with eleven points. NCU shot 35.9% in the game including a 5-for-22 clip from three-point range. They were out-rebounded 30-33 but had just eleven turnovers.
Southern Oregon (6-4, 1-0) was led by Thompson who finished with 18 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Dex Daum added 12 points and Kyle Tedder scored eleven off the bench.
NCU will be back in action on Saturday night, traveling to Klamath Falls to take on #6 Oregon Tech at 7:30 pm.
