ROSEBURG – The Roseburg boy’s basketball team held a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the South Eugene Axemen rallied behind a 27-point performance from Jay Elmore to pull off a comeback 70-64 victory on Friday night.

Roseburg led a majority of the game and took its largest lead of the night on a long two-pointer from Cody Johnson that made the score 50-37 with just over six minutes left to play. It seemed like the Indians were headed to their first back-to-back wins on the season, but the Axemen caught fire down the stretch.

South Eugene fought back to tie the game and take the lead on a pair of free throws by Zack Stice with 1:22 left to play. The Axemen’s 63-62 advantage was their first lead since the first quarter. Roseburg retook the lead shortly after on a pair of free throws by Jonathan Stone, but those would be the final points of the night for the Indians.

Elmore, a junior for the Axemen and the leading scorer in the Southwest Conference, sparked South Eugene’s comeback with 15 of his game-high 27 points in the final period. He was 4-for-4 from the floor in the fourth, including three 3-pointers, and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. His 27 points was a new season-high.

Roseburg’s Cody Johnson scored seven of his team-high 18 points in the final quarter. The junior drained four of Roseburg’s seven made 3-pointers. The mark matches Johnson’s season-high.

The Indians will next host the North Medford Black Tornado on Tuesday for another Southwest Conference contest. The game will tipoff at 6:45 p.m. at Roseburg High School.

SOUTH EUGENE; 10; 10; 15; 35 – 70
ROSEBURG; 12; 16; 15; 21 – 64

SOUTH EUGENE (70) – Jay Elmore 27; Stice 13; Chubbfertal 10; Brandt 9; Green-Richards 6; Graves 5; Brown; Mitchell; Joyce

ROSEBURG (64) – Cody Johnson 18; Warmouth 15; M. Stone 15; Lucido 6; J. Stone 6; Crince 2; Christner 2; Lookabaugh; Jacks

3-Point Baskets
SOUTH EUGENE – 6 (Elmore 5, Graves 1)
ROSEBURG – 7 (Johnson 4, Warmouth 2, Stone 1)

Foul Out –
Roseburg – Lucido