ASHLAND, Ore. – An
Aitor Zubizarreta game-tying runner in the lane with four seconds left fell short, as Southern Oregon rallied in the second half for a 76-72 victory over the College of Idaho inside Mountain Avenue Gym.
The No. 14 ranked Raiders (23-5, 16-2 CCC) completed a season-sweep of C of I, recording their tenth second-half comeback win of the year and pulling into a tie with Northwest Christian atop the Cascade Conference standings.
Dominique Jordan canned a long 3-pointer with 49 seconds left to pull the Yotes (16-12, 11-8) even at 72-72, but Joel Spear answered at the other end – getting fouled on a drive and sinking both free throws with 33 seconds left.
C of I had two chances – as Jordan missed a corner trey with 15 seconds left, but
Joey Nebeker forcing a tie-up after SOU had grabbed the rebound. The Yotes went to Zubizarreta, who scored 18 points and connected on three 3-pointers, but his hotly contested runner fell short – with the Raiders collecting the rebound and Ben DeSaulnier iced the game with two free throws in the final second.
The Yotes had their rhythm in the first half, making 8-of-14 3-point attempts in bolting to a 37-28 lead and held a 45-41 edge at halftime. After back-to-back Spear triples gave the Raiders a 47-45 lead, C of I scored the next 10 points – with a 25-foot Nebeker dart pushing the Yotes edge to 55-47.
Spear had 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and DeSaulnier had 17 points for the Raiders – who made 49-percent of their field goal attempts and 10-of-25 shots from long range.
Nebeker led the Yotes with 19 points and six rebounds, with both
Marck Coffin and
Curtis Brever scoring eight. C of I made 13 3-point baskets in the loss.
The Coyotes close out the regular-season with a road date next Saturday at Walla Walla – needing a win or an Oregon Tech loss in either of their final two games to clinch a CCC Championships quarterfinal home date.
