Pilots Lose Back-And-Forth Battle With Toreros

Portland now shifts its focus to the San Francisco Dons, who will come to the Chiles Center on Monday at 7:00 PM.

Salem-News.com

PORTLAND - Sophomore guard Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 24 points to lead the San Diego Toreros to a 74-70 win over the Portland Pilots Saturday afternoon in front of 1,358 at the Chiles Center.

Sophomore forward Jamie Jones led four Pilots in double figures with 15 points and seven rebounds.

The teams entered the contest tied for fifth-place in the West Coast Conference standings.

The Toreros (13-8, 3-3) overcame a hot start by the Pilots (6-16, 2-4), snapping a two-game losing streak and extending Portland’s winless streak to four games.

USD senior forward Nir Cohen added 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, and blocked a shot by Jones in the closing seconds to clinch the win.

Sophomore forward Gyno Pomare, who entered the game averaging 19.4 points in WCC action, was held to 11 points and two rebounds.

Senior guard Darren Cooper finished with 14 points, but shot just 3-for-12 from the field.

He made all six of his free throw attempts, giving him 24 consecutive over the last five games.

Freshman point guard Taishi Ito continued his solid play with 12 points, eight assists and just two turnovers in 38 minutes.

Junior forward Sherrard Watson added 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Johnson scored 19 second half points and gave the Toreros a 71-66 lead on a mid-range jumper with 1:24 remaining in regulation.

Consecutive layups by Ben Sullivan and Jones made it 71-70 with 1:07 left.

Portland forced a USD turnover and ran a play for Cooper with under 30 seconds remaining. He drove the middle and attacked the basket, but was called for an offensive foul.

Cohen made one of two free throws on the ensuing possession with 18 ticks on the clock and the Pilots came out of a timeout with the same play for Cooper.

This time Cooper collapsed the defense and laid off a pass to Jones on the left side of the hoop.

His first attempt was tied up by Cohen and his follow was blocked again by Cohen who grabbed the rebound and made both free throws to ice the game.

“I tried to get the guys to recognize that the last few plays are the ones that will resonate in their minds for the next few days, but the early turnovers and missed free throws were probably more damaging,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said.

After grabbing an early 16-8 lead by making seven of their first ten shot attempts, the Pilots let the Toreros back in the game with 11 first-half turnovers.

USD led by three in the closing seconds of the period before Cooper made three straight free throws to make it 38-38 at the break.

For the game, Portland shot 44 percent and the Toreros 45 percent.

The Pilots committed 15 turnovers in all and USD had 12.

Portland owned the paint with a 40-18 advantage, helped by a 37-27 rebounding edge.

The Toreros had an 18-11 margin in points off turnovers.

Portland struggled to a 14-for-23 effort at the foul line, while USD made 16-of-24 from the stripe.

“This was one you look back on and think you should have won,” Reveno said.

“But that’s the nature of a hard-fought game; it could have gone either way. We’re not going to dwell on the outcome. We need to focus on other areas, like taking better care of the ball.”

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