CALDWELL, Idaho – The College of Idaho men's basketball team clinched a spot in its 13th Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship game with a 77-64 win over Southern Oregon on Saturday night.
With the win, College of Idaho (28-2) has won its last 23 games after a conference opening loss to SOU on December 1. On this night, the bench for the Yotes proved to be the difference as College of Idaho outscored the SOU reserves by a 35-13 margin. In the win, reserves
Dougie Peoples and
Straton Rogers had 11 and 10 points, respectively. It was not just those two as was an all-around team effort on Saturday night.
Southern Oregon (17-13) was led by an 18-point, 11 rebound effort from Dominic McGarvey. He was joined in double figures by Brett Hollis and Cole McAnnich each had 10.
The first four minutes of the game saw the visitors jump out to a 13-4 lead. After
Johnny Radford made two of three free throws, the College of Idaho reserves of
Alex Germer,
Caden Handran and
Straton Rogers entered the game; two minutes later, it was Peoples and
Paul Wilson enter the game. At that juncture, it was a four-point game, 14-10 in favor of SOU.
The bench scored five-straight points to put C of I ahead 15-14 and for the first time in the contest. Starter
Drew Wyman returned to the game and made a 3-pointer to put College of Idaho ahead 20-17 with 8:13 left in the first half. The 3-pointer put the Yotes ahead for the rest of the contest, scoring 12 of the final 17 points in the first 20 minutes for a 37-29 halftime lead. The second half saw the Yotes reserves outscore their SOU counterparts by a 20-7 margin. Rogers scored seven along, with six more by fellow reserve
Paul Wilson as the Yotes would help lead C of I to build a lead as large as 23 in the second half.
Next, College of Idaho will face No. 17 Oregon Tech, who defeated host and No. 2 seed LC State, 82-80 in Lewiston in the other semifinal.
