NAIA POSTSEASON POLL

KANSAS CITY – An eight-spot climb placed Southern Oregon in the top-10 of the postseason NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, as the Raiders ranked 10th to lead all Cascade Collegiate Conference teams.

Southern Oregon advanced to the NAIA Div. II Men's Basketball National Tournament for the fourth time in program history, and an 83-66 first-round win over No. 14 Madonna sent the Raiders to the Sweet Sixteen for only the second time. A second-round loss to tournament host College of the Ozarks ended SOU's season, but not before the Raiders set a new program record with 25 wins.

The Raiders ranked as high as 12th during the 2012-13 regular season, and the postseason ranking puts SOU into the NAIA top 10 for the first time since the team ranked ninth in the Feb. 15, 2006 poll.

Out of four Cascade Conference programs to advance to the national tournament, Southern Oregon was the only one to advance past the first round. Conference champion Warner Pacific dropped from fifth to 13th in the final poll, while Eastern Oregon fell from eighth to 20th and Northwest dropped out of the top 25 entirely.

The top-10 national finish adds yet another highlight to a historic 2012-13 season for Southern Oregon. Last week both Eric Thompson (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) and David Sturner (Philomath, Ore./Philomath) were named Honorable Mention NAIA All-Americans, marking the first time SOU has had two All-Americans in the same season. Thompson's second All-American nod made him only the second player in team history with multiple All-American honors.

Thompson followed up his freshman scoring record of 587 points last season with 577 to lead the Raiders this year, joining Shea Washington as the only two-time 500-point scorers in team history. Sturner finished the year with 326 rebounds to rank third in the nation and third in program history.

Kyle Tedder (Coos Bay, Ore./Marshfield) scored 524 points to give SOU a pair of 500-point scorers for the first time in program history, and his 102 made three-pointers were the fourth-most by a Raider. Point guard Jeff Bush (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) finished the season with 161 assists to tie for the fourth-most in team history.

Head coach Brian McDermott became the all-time program win leader when he surpassed Ted Schopf with his 242nd career win at SOU on Feb. 8. McDermott finished the season with 248 wins.

Southern Oregon's 2,783 total points are the second-most in team history, while the Raiders' 79.5 points-per-game average ranks sixth. With 1,302 rebounds, the team finished seven shy of the program record to place seventh all-time, and SOU's .490 team shooting percentage and .724 free throw percentage are both the third-best marks in team history. The Raiders' 25 wins surpassed the previous record of 24, and SOU's 35 total games also set a team record.

With the quartet of Thompson, Sturner, Tedder and Bush all slated to return next season, hopes will be high that the Raiders will sustain their top-10 ranking and have another historic season in 2012-13.