No. 1 Eastern Oregon Pulls Away to 75-61 Win Over No. 21 Raiders

LA GRANDE Top-ranked Eastern Oregon avenged its lone defeat of the season Saturday night, pulling away to a 75-61 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball victory over No. 21 Southern Oregon at Quinn Coliseum.

Eastern Oregon improves to 22-1 overall and 10-1 in conference play, while Southern Oregon falls to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in the CCC.  The win gives the teams a season split after SOU knocked off then-No. 2 EOU 72-68 on Dec. 14 in Ashland. Southern Oregon will face another tough challenge in their next game, as they will look to end their three-game skid at home against No. 8 Warner Pacific on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Anthony Brown's double-double helped propel the Mountaineers to the victory, as he posted game-high totals with 25 points and 10 rebounds while hitting four three-pointers in the win. Trent Roos added 16 points for EOU to match twin brother Taylor Roos (Salem, Ore./Sprague)' output for the Raiders. Jeff Bush (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) totaled 13 points and seven rebounds, while Tim Weber (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) and David Sturner (Philomath, Ore./Philomath) each added 10 points.

Southern Oregon held Eastern Oregon to 38.3 percent shooting (23-of-60), but the Mountaineers finished with 10 more shot attempts and the Raiders and made 10 three-pointers and 19 free throws in the game. The Raiders made 42 percent (21-of-50) of their shots, including six treys and 13 makes at the charity stripe.

The game held close until the final five minutes, with four tie scores and 11 lead changes. Southern Oregon built its largest lead of the game less than five minutes in when Bush hit a three-pointer to give SOU an 11-5 lead. Eastern Oregon's Cody Thurmond responded with a trey of his own on the next possession, but the hosts didn't pull ahead until the closing minutes of the first half.

Southern Oregon scored the first four points of the second half on back-to-back Bush buckets to tie the game at 34-34 after going into halftime down four. A three-pointer by Weber less than two minutes later put SOU ahead 37-36, but that would prove to be the Raiders' final lead of the game.

A Brown jumper sparked a 13-point EOU streak to give the Mountaineers their first double-digit lead of the game, 49-37 with 13:54 remaining. A free throw by Terriel Thomas (Boise, Idaho/Borah) ended the streak, and the Raiders responded with an eight-point stretch of their own to pull within following a Sturner bucket. Unfortunately the Mountaineers scored the next seven points to push the lead back to 11.

The Raiders had one more push left when Eric Thompson (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) sunk a three-pointer just under the five minute mark and Weber made a jumper and a free throw to complete a three-point play that made it 60-55 with 4:43 to play. But J.D. Esters knocked down a three to put Eastern back up by eight, and another trey by the Mountaineers' Roos with less than two minutes to go pushed the lead into double-figures for good.

No. 1 Eastern Oregon Pulls Away to 75-61 Win Over No. 21 Raiders