Seniors Lift Pilots to Win in Final Home Game

Photo courtsey: portlandpilots.com

PORTLAND - The University of Portland men’s basketball team closed out its home slate with a bang, downing Saint Mary’s 55-47 in West Coast Conference action before 1,351 fans at the Chiles Center.

The Pilots improve to 8-19 (4-7 WCC) on the year while the Gaels drop to 13-14 (5-6 WCC).

Putting on a show in his final regular season home game, senior Ben Sullivan led the Pilots with 15 points and added six rebounds.

Senior Darren Cooper pitched in 14 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.

Freshman guard Taishi Ito had eight points and a game high four assists while sophomore forward Jamie Jones scored seven points and had a team-high eight rebounds.

For the Gaels, Brett Collins led all scorers with 16 points.

Tron Smith was the only other Gael in double figures, adding 11 points, all in the second half.

Omar Samhan had nine points and eight boards while Diamon Simpson led all players with nine rebounds.

Simpson entered the game averaging 14.3 points, but was held to 0-of-9 from the field and six points.

Portland had its best defensive effort of the season, limiting Saint Mary’s to 47 points, the lowest point-total allowed by the Pilots this year.

Portland held Saint Mary’s to a 28 percent field goal percentage for the game and won the rebounding battle 39-37.

The Pilots also had just 10 turnovers compared to SMC’s 13, making it the first time this season that Portland had fewer turnovers than an opponent.

“It was an emotional game,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said, referring to Senior Night. “You could tell that it means something to the guys, and our seniors did a very nice job of channeling those feelings and focusing on the task at hand.”

Both teams started slow offensively with the Gaels grabbing a 10-6 lead at the midway point of the first half.

Portland used an 11-2 run to gain a 17-12 edge with 6:10 remaining in the half on a three-point play by Sullivan. Portland carried a 24-19 lead into the break.

After pushing the lead to eight points, Saint Mary’s countered with a 14-5 run capped by a Collins three-point play to give the Gaels their first lead (33-32) since the 9:06 mark of the first half.

The lead went back and forth until a critical three-pointer by Sullivan to beat the shot clock with 6:44 left gave UP a 43-41 edge.

Ito followed with a baseline layup and the Pilots made 8-of-10 free throws in the last few minutes to secure the win.

The Pilots kept Saint Mary’s off balance by playing a zone defense, not a normal scheme according to Reveno.

“Saint Mary’s is a good aggressive offensive team,” Reveno said. “They like to attack the basket and go to the hoop, so we thought the zone could slow them down a little bit.”

Portland will now have a week break before returning to the court to face Northwest rival Gonzaga on Monday, Feb. 19th in Spokane.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The game will be televised on FSN Northwest

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