Box Score ASHLAND, Ore. – It was a tale of two halves for Multnomah University as the Lions shot 51 percent in the second half but could not overcome 19 percent first-half shooting and fell 86-68 to the NAIA Division II's 9^th-ranked Southern Oregon University Raiders in Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball Saturday night here at Mountain Avenue Gym. 
 
Southern Oregon took a 5-0 lead on a three-pointer by Ben DeSaulnier and a jumper by Matt Boudreaux and never trailed in the game.  A Darius Redrick layup put Multnomah on the board at the 16:52 mark, but the Raiders reeled off the next 10 points, the first five by DeSaulnier, to build a 15-2 lead with 14:38 to go.  Two free throws by Jon Viles and a three by Brett Blackstock drew the Lions within eight at 15-7 with 14:09 remaining in the half, but that was as close as the visitors would get.  A 9-0 run to cap the period gave SOU a 48-24 halftime lead as the Lions hit only 7-of-36 from the field (.194) in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Things picked up considerably for the Lions in the second half as they canned 18-of-35 shots for a .514 percentage and out-scored the Raiders 44-38, but the damage had been done.  Blackstock drained a three to get the 'Nomah deficit under 20 points at 57-39 with 14:23 left in the game, and back-to-back treys by Trey Fountain and Blackstock made it a 12-point game of 57-45 with 12:36 to go.  It was still a 12-point game at 7:07 following a Ben Grandle dunk that made it 67-55 SOU, but the Raiders responded with an 8-0 run over the next minute-and-a-half to thwart any further Lions' hopes of a comeback.
 
--- By the Numbers:  Blackstock led all scorers with 21 points for the Lions, sinking 7-of-11 shots, including 4-of-5 three-point attempts, and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.  Redrick added 13 points and Fountain 11 as the Lions finished with a .352 shooting percentage (25-71).  Blackstock added four assists, while Fountain made four steals.
 
DeSaulnier scored 19 points, Jordan Hunt 14 and Conor Carroll 13 for the Raiders, who shot .453 (34-75) for the game.  Tristen Holmes grabbed 10 rebounds as SOU won the battle of the boards 53-37.  Holmes and Kenny Meyer had nine assists apiece.
 
Multnomah drops to 4-10 on the season and 1-4 in the conference, while Southern Oregon is now 10-5 overall and 5-1 in the CCC.
 
--- Next:  Multnomah returns home to host Northwest Christian University Friday in a CCC game starting at 7:30 p.m. … Southern Oregon visits the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. conference game … Both games will follow CCC women's games at 5:30 p.m.