Bearcats Boot Raiders

Willamette went on an 8-0 lead to take the lead for good at 14-9 and the Bearcats rolled to a 53-37 halftime lead.

Salem-News.com Sports

SALEM, Ore. - The Willamette men’s basketball team used a big first half and then cruised to a 95-81 victory over Southern Oregon tonight in Salem.

Willamette improved to 4-3 overall. Southern Oregon dropped to 3-9. The Raiders return to Cascade Conference play this weekend as they host Concordia (Friday) and Corban (Saturday).

Scott Tiefenthaler led SOU with 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Humphrey Jackson finished with 19 points and Ryon Poll had 11 points. Cameron Mitchell led Willamette with a game-high 24 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.

A jumper by SOU’s Josh McDermott gave the Raiders an early 9-6 lead and unfortunately there wouldn’t be many more highlights for the visitors in the first half.

Willamette went on an 8-0 lead to take the lead for good at 14-9 and the Bearcats rolled to a 53-37 halftime lead.

The lead got to 25 midway through the second half before the Raiders made a final run.

A 3-pointer by Tiefenthaler cut the lead to 81-69 with just over four minutes to play, but Willamette went 5-for-6 from the free throw line over the last three minutes keep SOU at bay.

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