Like their female counterparts, the 16th-ranked Southern Oregon University Men’s Basketball team have started the season on a fast start.

Winning eight of their first 11 games, ranked in the top-20 nationally in the NAIA and are tops in the Cascade Collegiate conference.

“I like that we are a very balanced team and do not have to count on huge nights from anyone.” said SOU Men’s Basketball coach Brian McDermott, “In the games that we have played well we have done a great job of sharing the ball.”

The Raiders are averaging 80 points a game at this point of the season.  Southern Oregon is lead by 6’7 sophomore Eric Thompson who is averaging 15.8 a game and 7.1 rebounds.  Junior David Stuner is averaging a team best 7.5 rebounds a game so far this season.

Southern Oregon defensively is holding opponents to 71.8 points a contest whil averaging 16.7 rebounds a game.

For a team that is gelling as well as the Ashland, Oregon squad, what weakness could they have?

” Conversely, when we have struggled it has been because of poor ball movement.” said McDermott,  “We also need to handle ball pressure better.”

The Raiders are committing 14.5 turnovers a game while stealing the rock 5.9 times a game, a -8.6 ratio not in favor of Southern Oregon.

But this could change against Saturday as the Raiders travel to Redding, California to take on non-conference opponent Simpson University; whom Southern Oregon have a five-game winning streak and are 26-1 all-time against the Red Hawks.

“Like teams in our league with similar prospects they are very capable of beating a top team.” said McDermott “They have two very good insiders and a number of perimeter guys that can get to the rim and shoot the three.”

The Red Hawks enter Saturday’s contest 3-9 on the season averaging 68.4 points a game offensively but are allowing 86.1 points a game defensively.

Simpson’s mobility and 3-point shots are their strengthes.  They can rebound well, on the offensive and defensive fronts, they can spread you around with the three-point shots and can get the assist when they need to do, Simpson can even get in your face and block a shot with a average of three a game.

Junior guard Guy Varsek leads the squad with 16.3 points,7.1 rebounds and 1.14 steals a game for the Red Hawks.  Jonnie Washburn is their best 3-point shooter, shooting 36.4 percent from downtown.  Big man Ian Corrella is averaging a block and 4.1 rebounds a game for the Red Hawks.

The key’s to victory for Southern Oregon is to utlilzed their eight ranked shooting offense and to spread the ball around with how the Red Hawks are on defense with allowing more points than their offense. 

Another key is to step up on the defensive front.  Put pressure on Simpson, any good three-point shooting, passing team like the Red Hawks do not like to be thrown out of rhythm.  If the Raiders can make them shoot or make a bad decision early and often, Southern Oregon can get easy rebounds via Eric Thompson or David Sturner or via steals with Kyle Tedder.

McDermott believes that this road game would be a great test for the Raiders for that late season run in January and February.

Peck-off between the birds will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.