11th-seeded Raiders upset No. 3 seed The Master’s on their home court in Santa Clarita
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – To the stunned chagrin of another upset victim, the Southern Oregon men’s basketball team is no longer just happy to be here. The No. 11-seeded Raiders have made themselves at home in the NAIA National Tournament after knocking off No. 3 seed The Master’s (Calif.), 76-71, in Saturday’s second round at the MacArthur Center.
Tied 69-69 with 37 seconds remaining, Elijah Jackson went one-on-one to the basket, shook his defender and got in the middle of the lane to float in the go-ahead bucket. Seconds later, he stripped the ball away from All-American forward Kaleb Lowery and into the hands of teammate Gabe Reichle, enabling SOU to put the game on ice with four consecutive makes at the free-throw line.
It was just the last in a series of clutch moments that improbably sent the Raiders (22-10 overall) — who were 24 hours removed from taking down No. 6 seed Montana Tech – to Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, where they’ll be among the final 16 teams. They face Keiser (Florida), a No. 7 seed, at 1 p.m. PDT next Friday with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
More info:
To see the full NAIA bracket, click here
The Mustangs (26-6), champions of the Golden State Athletic Conference, had only lost once on their home court in the last two seasons and were seeking a second-straight trip to the Round of 16. They led by as many as 13 points in the first half, where the Raiders appeared overmatched while surrendering 16 unanswered points.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Joe Juhala and Etan Collins got them on track, sparking a 15-6 run that trimmed the deficit to four by halftime, and they never went away in the second. The teams traded the lead four times and were tied at six different points in the last six minutes alone.
Bryce Dyer recorded 19 points and six rebounds, Jackson had 17 and three steals, and Mason Whittaker came up big with 12 of his 16 points in the second half. Juhala added nine of his 12 after the break.
“At halftime we didn’t think the energy was great because we weren’t making shots,” SOU coach Matt Zosel said. “The team decided, let’s get our energy from deflections and block-outs and just flying around. We made a bunch of winning plays and showed a lot of resilience.”
The Raiders — the same team that sat at 0-4 in the Cascade Conference a few months ago — were one of two No. 11 seeds to advance. No other team at the final site will be seeded lower than No. 7.
Their season appeared in serious peril when they went down 57-50 with 7:36 left, but Whittaker picked them up with a 3-pointer. Down four near the six-minute mark, Reichle made his first free throw, missed his second, and Juhala turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play to tie the score.
A Reichle steal with two minutes remaining led to Whittaker’s fadeaway jumper that knotted the teams again with 1:15 on the clock. One defensive stop later, the ball was in Jackson’s hands with the game on the line.
The junior guard delivered again. In four postseason games, he has averaged 21.3 points.
Dyer scored 13 of his points in the second half, but he excelled on the other end in the first while keeping Lowery to a single field-goal attempt. So did senior forward Khalil Chatman, who tallied team-highs of three blocked shots and seven rebounds.
Only one other CCC team, top-ranked College of Idaho, got through to the Round of 16. The Raiders have won back-to-back national tournament games for the first time in 10 years. They’ve never before won three in a row.
This story first appeared on the Southern Oregon University Sports Information website, souraiders.com.
