AZUSA, Calif. -- There was supposed to be a 200-yard rusher in the game tonight. No one, though, expected it to be Azusa Pacific's Ben Buys, who rushed for a career-high 243 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the NAIA’s No. 12-ranked Cougars to a come-from-behind 23-14 victory over Southern Oregon.

Buys, who led the Cougars to 23 unanswered points, came within 5 yards of Christian Okoye's school record of 248 yards set against Cal Lutheran in 1986. As it was, his 243 yards on 38 carries matches second best effort in school history (Marcus Slaten had 243 vs. Menlo in 1994).

"The offensive line dominates in a game like this," said Buys, reluctant to take much credit for his performance. "We were doing this as a team because we have so much faith in each other."

Buys' effort settled a Cougar team that didn't look like it was going to get its first win in 5 tries against Southern Oregon. The Raiders rolled out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. All-American RB Dusty McGrorty capped an 11-play, 58-yard, game-opening drive with a 1-yard blast that put the Raiders up 7-0, before Azusa Pacific even touched the ball. And when it finally did, the Cougars fumbled their first play from a scrimmage. Had it not been for Dominique DeGrammont's interception 2 plays later, Southern Oregon may have scored again.

As it was, before the close of the quarter, WR Andrae Thurman took a Dan Woodward sideline pass and sprinted 58 yards downfield to give Southern Oregon a comfortable 2 touchdown cushion with 1:22 left in the quarter.

At the point Buys then went to work, tallying 212 of his 243 yards over the next 3 quarters. The Cougars answered on their first drive of the second quarter, with a David Ignash 39-yard field goal to cap a 47-yard drive in which Buys accumulated 32 of the yards on the ground. Then as the first half was closing, the Cougars drove 80 yards on 15 plays, including 9 Buys' rushes for 46 yards, and scored their first touchdown on a Buys' 5-yard run with 48 seconds left in the half.

Though Southern Oregon led 14-10 that was the only lead it was going to enjoy the rest of the night. The Cougar defense, led by sophomore Gabe Higerd and junior Jacob Fisher who each had a team high 8 tackles, throttled Southern Oregon in the second half. In fact, the Raiders netted a microscopic 25 yards over the final 2 quarters. Additionally the Cougar defense held McGrorty, the NAIA's leading rusher at 212 yards a game, to just 51 yards on 22 carries (2.3 avg.) and pushed him back for minus 1 yard on 8 second-half carries.

"Our defense was absolutely amazing," said Cougar coach Peter Shinnick. "Southern Oregon has a lot of explosive guys, and we did a good job of containing them."

Midway through the third quarter, Southern Oregon appeared to pushed its lead to 17-10 when Raider place kicker Steve Baker made good on a 44-yard field goal. However, the play was waved off by an illegal procedure call on Southern Oregon. On the next play, Cougar nose guard Orlando Sanchez blocked Baker’s 49-yard attempt. Six plays and 48 yards later, Azusa Pacific took the lead for good on a Buys 4-yard TD run that gave the Cougars a 17-14 lead. An Ignash 40-yard field goal pushed the lead to 20-14 before the close of the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Louis Jamison sacked Woodward on a corner blitz for a 9-yard loss, 1 of 3 Cougar sacks on the evening. On the next play, CB Brian Rocheleau blocked another Baker field goal, this from 47 yards.

The rest was up to Buys, who carried the ball on 8 of the next 10 plays to set up Ignash’s game-clinching 30-yard field.

"We were more physical and it showed in this game," said Shinnick. "Ben just continued to pound it, even though he was very tired."

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 5-1 on the season. Southern Oregon, which was ranked No. 5 in the NAIA preseason poll, surprisingly falls to 1-4.