Men's Basketball | 02.25.2022
LEWISTON, Idaho – LC State Men's Basketball won a nail-biter on Wednesday night with a 58-57 victory over Eastern Oregon University in the quarterfinal round of the 2021-22 Cascade Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank.
LC State will take on fifth-seeded Southern Oregon on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the P1FCU Activity Center. The Warriors faced SOU once during the regular season and came away with a 72-66 victory.
Tickets are on sale now for the CCC semifinal matchup at lcwarriors.com/tickets, and a stream package is also available at lcwarriors.com/watch. Season passes are not valid for the postseason.
THE WARRIORS (22-9, 14-8) – No. 3 seed
The Warriors trailed 29-28 at the half before late baskets by
Nathan Fromm put LC in front. Strong defense helped finish off EOU at the buzzer.
Khalil Stevenson, the lone returning starter from last season's National Runner-Up team, had been a consistent leader for the Warriors all year. With leading scorer
Kevin Baker out with injury, Stevenson stepped up and increased his scoring output to 12.2 points per game. The team's "Swiss Army Knife" averages 3.4 rebounds per game and has 83 assists, 21 steals and is shooting .403 from the floor. He leads the Warriors in 3-pointers made with 58.
Oreon Courtney is LC State's leading rebounder heading into the tournament with 7.0 per game. He tallied a career-high 28 points in the victory over SOU during the regular season and is now averaging 11.1 points per game.
Silas Bennion leads the team with 101 assists.
Heading into the postseason, the Warriors lead the CCC in field goal percentage defense (.405) and rebounding (44.1). LC has the fifth-highest rebound average in the NAIA.
THE RAIDERS (17-14, 13-9) – No. 6 seed
Southern Oregon upset fifth-seeded Corban to advance to the semifinal round of the CCC tournament. The Raiders edged Corban 67-65 in Salem behind 18 points from Tez Allen, and 16 each from Josh Meyer and Atmar Mundu. Meyer notched a double-double in the contest with 13 rebounds. SOU went 14-for-19 from the free throw line.
Meyer leads the Cascade in defensive rebounds per game with 7.4. He is the Raiders' leading scorer (14.7) and rebounder (9.0) this season, and is second in the team with 80 assists and 30 steals. He has blocked a team-best 16 shots and is one of two players to start all 29 games.
Allen, the other 29-game starter, is averaging 10.7 points per game, third on the team behind Mundu's 11.9.
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