ARCATA — Rolling out to a big lead early, Humboldt State put it in cruise control on the way to a 93-69 win over Southern Oregon in men's basketball action Tuesday.

The win christened the Jacks' new Lumberjack Arena, improving their record to 2-2 overall. Southern Oregon dropped to 1-2 after its third straight road game.

HSU forced the Raiders into 26 turnovers, utilizing its press to create 19 in the first half on the way to a 45-17 lead at the break. The Jacks also lit up the nets throughout, shooting 54 percent from the field.

"We worked hard on defense in practice this week, and our press was able to get them off balance," HSU head coach Tom Wood said. "Our press set the tone and created scoring opportunities for us."

Colt Mathews provided much of the scoring punch for the Jacks in the game's early minutes, contributing to a 13-2 surge that opened up the first big lead. Southern Oregon only managed to trim the lead beneath double digits once from that point on, and trailed by as many as 33 points early in the second half.

Mathews finished with 16 points, Kyle Baxter had 14 and Kevin Atkins 11 for the Jacks. Leading the way for Southern Oregon were Austin Wolver with 18 points, Trevor McCay with 12, and Eli Thonrton with 11 points.

Three different Lumberjacks - Jameson Figgatt, Zac Tiedeman and Mike Kehrig - each totaled four assists, and redshirt freshman Will Petty added a team-high four steals in his first appearance for the Jacks since coming off an injury.

Humboldt State is back in Lumberjack Arena on Saturday, hosting Simpson University at 7:30 p.m.

Southern Oregon vs Humboldt State
11/18/08 7:30 pm at Arcata, Calif.
At Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 93, SOUTHERN OREGON 69
SOUTHERN OREGON (1-2)
WOLFER, Austin 5-12 8-13 18; MCCAY, Trevor 4-13 2-2 12; THORNTON, Eli 5-7
0-1 11; CHILDS, Jarrad 2-7 5-5 9; JACKSON, Humphrey 2-7 2-3 7; JACKSON,
Armani 2-4 0-0 4; MAHR, Kory 0-3 4-5 4; TIEFENTHALER, Scott 1-2 1-2 3;
VAUGHN, Dustin 0-0 1-2 1; MACKOVJAK, Chris 0-0 0-0 0; HAWLEY, Kellen 0-0 0-0 0; MCDERMOTT, Josh 0-2 0-0 0; WHITE, Joe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 23-33 69.
HUMBOLDT STATE (2-2)
MATHEWS, Colt 7-12 1-2 16; BAXTER, Kyle 6-10 1-2 14; ATKINS, Kevin 5-8 1-1 11; KEHRIG, Mike 3-6 1-1 8; HOWARD, David 3-5 0-0 8; PETTY, Will 2-2 2-2 7; BABCOCK-KRENK, E. 3-4 0-0 6; NEWMAN, Owen 2-3 1-2 5; FIGGATT, Jameson 2-4 1-2 5; SPADA, Ernie 2-8 0-0 5; DAVIS, Keith 1-2 1-1 3; TIEDEMAN, Zac 1-5 0-0
3; BROOME, David 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 38-70 9-13 93.
Southern Oregon...............   17   52  -   69
Humboldt State................   45   48  -   93
3-point goals--Southern Oregon 4-14 (MCCAY, Trevor 2-6; THORNTON, Eli 1-1; JACKSON, Humphrey 1-2; MAHR, Kory 0-1; MCDERMOTT, Josh 0-1; CHILDS, Jarrad 0-3), Humboldt State 8-24 (HOWARD, David 2-2; KEHRIG, Mike 1-2; BAXTER, Kyle 1-4; TIEDEMAN, Zac 1-4; PETTY, Will 1-1; SPADA, Ernie 1-6; MATHEWS, Colt 1-3; BABCOCK-KRENK, E. 0-1; ATKINS, Kevin 0-1). Fouled out--Southern Oregon-None, Humboldt State-None. Rebounds--Southern Oregon 41 (MAHR, Kory 7; WOLFER, Austin 7), Humboldt State 34 (ATKINS, Kevin 5; FIGGATT, Jameson 5; MATHEWS, Colt 5). Assists--Southern Oregon 9 (THORNTON, Eli 3; MCDERMOTT, Josh 3), Humboldt State 21 (KEHRIG, Mike 4; TIEDEMAN, Zac 4; FIGGATT, Jameson 4). Total fouls--Southern Oregon 16, Humboldt State 26. Technical fouls--Southern Oregon-None, Humboldt State-None. A-1033

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