Raiders advance to play reigning national champion and top-seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) on Saturday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two weeks ago, a Southern Oregon University employee walked into Raiders head coach Matt Zosel’s office to congratulate him on a fine season. Well done, the friendly message conveyed, go get ’em next year.

One problem: Zosel’s Raiders, who hours earlier had received an at-large national tournament bid, weren’t done yet. As it turns out, they were just getting started.

They took down a third consecutive conference champion and higher-seeded opponent in Friday’s NAIA Championship Round of 16, defeating No. 7-seeded Keiser (Fla.) 83-79 at Municipal Auditorium. After trailing for a majority of the first half, they heated up and led by as many 17 points in the second.

A furious Seahawks rally leveled the score inside the two-minute mark, but Mason Whittaker broke a 79-79 tie by hitting back-to-back free throws with 29 seconds left before forcing a tie-up on a rebound at the other end to give possession back to SOU.

Two more free throws and a Keiser desperation-heave later, the No. 11-seeded Raiders were into the national quarterfinal round for the third time in team history and the first time since the NAIA’s two-division merger.

Over the last eight days, the Raiders (23-10) — who finished fourth in the Cascade Conference — have knocked out the Frontier Conference champions, the Golden State Athletic Conference champions, and the Sun Conference champions successively. At 3 p.m. PDT Saturday, they’ll face defending national champion and top-seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) for the right to make their first-ever Fab Four appearance.

“It’s hard to believe,” Zosel said, “but the guys proved early on that they could play with anyone and now they’re playing more and more confidently down the stretch of these games.”

SOU ultimately buried Keiser (26-6) from beyond the arc, shooting 10-of-24 on 3-pointers. Whittaker hit three of those and led five Raiders in double figures with 17 points and three assists. At one point, from the time they trailed 30-24 late in the first half to when they took a 42-40 lead early in the second, they scored 18 consecutive points from 3.

They’d been on a 34-11 run — in large part by breaking Keiser’s full-court press to create open looks — by the time Khalil Chatman’s layup gave them their largest lead at 64-47 with 9:17 remaining. That same pressure, however, led to 11 second-half turnovers that let the Seahawks back in the game.

Keiser’s comeback was complete when Cameron Stitt scored inside to make it 77-77 with 1:50 to go. SOU forward Bryce Dyer and Seahawks guard Tyreon Payne then traded free throws to leave the score tied again, and with 29 seconds left Whittaker drew a foul 35 feet from the basket courtesy of Payne’s over-aggressive defense.

The senior guard sank both free throws, the Raiders got the stop they needed, and two final free throws from Gabe Reichle put the game out of reach.

“It was really about finding the balance between breaking the press and attacking,” Zosel said. “We were doing it so freely early in the game, then got a little too conservative and tight when time and score came into play, but we made some really intelligent plays down the stretch.”

Dyer and Jackson put up 15 points each, and Jackson added eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Dyer and Khalil Chatman — who had another stellar postseason outing with 13 points and six boards — were also largely responsible for limiting first-team All-American forward Vincent Miszkiewicz to seven points. He fouled out with eight minutes left having taken only four shots.

Reichle contributed 11 points and three assists for SOU. The Seahawks got 22 points, nine assists and eight steals from speedy point guard Calvin Sirmans while Stitt scored 21.

Freed-Hardeman had a close call in the second round but handled No. 4 seed Life (Ga.) 85-71 in its Round of 16 game. The Lions, out of the Mid-South Conference, are 29-5. They lost three of their top-four scorers from last year’s title team.

“They’re the defending champions for a reason,” Zosel said. “They’re really solid one-through-10, they’re physical and just a talented, well-coached team. Our best is going to be required.”