Pilots over Ducks!

Pilots rally to defeat Ducks 88-81, move to 3-0

By Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
November 21, 2009, 9:50PM

Quick, name this season's most dominant Division I men's basketball program in the state.

Anyone that picked the University of Portland had plenty of evidence to support that argument Saturday night as the Pilots defeated the Oregon Ducks 88-81 before a crowd of 3,386 at the Chiles Center.

Nik Raivio had a game-high 24 points to lead four players in double figures for the Pilots, who improved to 3-0 to remain the only undefeated major-college program in the state after the first two weeks of the regular season.

Robin Smeulders added 17 points and eight rebounds, and T.J. Campbell finished with 16 points, helping the Pilots rally from a 45-37 halftime deficit and defeat the Ducks (3-1) for only the third time in the last 30 tries dating back to the 1965-66 season.

Tajuan Porter finished with 21 points for the Ducks, who were playing without sophomore center Michael Dunigan because of an injured right leg.

“It’s a very good win,” Pilots coach Eric Reveno said. “The advantage of having a veteran team is they can adjust from thing to thing, and they did a nice job of executing the game plan.

“They always play hard, so I don’t have to worry about that. It’s just a joy to coach them and try to figure out what to give them to help them be successful.”

There is no telling which team would emerge victorious if Oregon, Oregon State, Portland and Portland State squared off in a round-robin tournament. Efforts to resurrect the Far West Classic holiday tournament in Portland as a showcase for the state's four Division-I schools have been floated recently, but most of those have been met with resistance for a variety of reasons.

Nobody with either of the Pacific-10 Conference schools has come right out and said it, but one of the overriding factors seems to be that the Beavers and Ducks don't want to mess with either of the two mid-major programs on a neutral court both teams' backyard.

In fact, the eight-year, home-and-home contract that Portland had with Oregon expired after Saturday’s game, and at this point the Pilots are uncertain if or when the Ducks will be back to play at the Chiles Center.

“I’m very appreciative of Oregon playing us,” said Reveno, who saw a personal three-game losing streak against the Ducks end. “When our reputation gets better, it won’t be considered such a bad loss and it will be a good rivalry.

“Right now, people don’t want to play us, because our reputation isn’t as good as our basketball team. So when the reputation changes, hopefully, people will be more willing to play us.”

Saturday’s crowd was treated to a fast-paced, physical game that featured seven lead changes and five ties before Portland pulled away in the final three minutes.

Porter led all scorers with 13 first-half point, pacing the Ducks to a 45-37 halftime lead. The Ducks also had a 21-16 advantage in rebounds and had only one turnover through the first 20 minutes.

The Pilots figured out how to deal with Oregon’s pressure defense during the break and opened the second half with a 15-1 run, capped by Robin Smeuldlers’ tip-in of a Luke Sikma miss that gave them a 52-45 lead.

From there, the lead changed hands four times, the Pilots going on top to stay on Jared Stohl’s three-pointer from the left wing that broke a 72-72 tie with 4:16 remaining.

“We had control of the game at one point, where Portland’s height was working against them, because we had them spread out,” Ducks coach Ernie Kent said. “We had some breakdowns in the game defensively that ended up costing us.”

Kent said the Pilots are a better team that the one the Ducks defeated 79-76 in overtime last season at McArthur Court in Eugene.

“Particularly on this floor, they have a great comfort zone to shoot the basketball here,” Kent said. “I felt like they ran their offense very well. They were a little bit erratic early on with our press, and then they settled down and kind of made us pay.”

-- Jim Beseda

Big Second Half Leads Portland to 88-81 win over Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Nik Raivio scored a game-high 24 points and the Portland Pilots erased an eight point halftime deficit in an 88-81 victory over the Oregon Ducks Saturday night at the Chiles Center. A crowd of 3,386 watched as the Pilots improved to 3-0 on the season and handed the Ducks (3-1) their first defeat of the year.

Senior forward Robin Smeulders added 17 points and eight rebounds, while senior point guard T.J. Campbell finished with 16 points, including a thunderous breakaway dunk in the closing seconds to point an exclamation point on the win.

Portland opened the second half with a 15-1 run, which included three three-pointers. Smeulders capped the run with a tip-in to put Portland ahead, 52-46. The Pilots would push the lead to 10 points at 66-56 on a Raivio lay-in and seemed in control of the game.

But the Ducks would rally behind reserve guard Malcolm Armstead, who drilled a three-pointer and then stole the inbounds pass and converted a layup to cut the margin in half. Armstead drilled another three-pointer to make it a one-possession game.

Oregon would regain the lead on a pair of E.J. Singler free throws with 6:53 remaining and Armstead hit another three for a 72-70 Oregon lead with 5:18 left.

Two free throws by Smeulders tied it up and then Jared Stohl nailed a three-pointer on the fast break to give the Pilots another lead. This time, Portland would not allow the Ducks back in the game. The Pilots closed the contest with a 13-4 run as Campbell got the crowd roaring with his dunk.

Armstead finished with a team-high 21 points, 17 coming in the second half for Oregon. Senior guard Tajuan Porter was on fire early and finished with 15 points, but 13 of those came in the first half.

Portland shot a blistering 67 percent from the field in the second half en route to 51 points after the break. The Pilots also made 6-of-7 three-pointers in the half and 11-of-19 for the game. The Pilots shot 53 percent for the game, compared to Oregon’s 45 percent.

Senior Ethan Niedermeyer was the fourth Pilot in double figures with 11 points. Portland outrebounded the Ducks 37-33.

The Pilots will now face a stiff challenge at the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif. Portland will take on UCLA in the first round game on Thanksgiving night at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. Other participating teams in the event, which runs through the weekend, include No. 8 West Virginia, No. 11 Butler, No. 22 Clemson and No. 24 Minnesota. Portland will face either Butler or Minnesota on Friday night.

Head Coach Eric Reveno Post-Game Quotes

On Oregon…
“The Ducks are a good basketball team, very athletic and they play hard.”

On the Pilots…
“It’s amazing to have a veteran team. We can adjust quickly and we executed the game plan well, which was to run offense, handle pressure and make them pay early, throwing it over the top. The players are always a joy to coach… it’s about trying to figure out what to give them to be successful.”

On half-time adjustments…
“We got used to their athleticism and we had to begin to guard better, moving from zone to man-to-man, so we adjusted to their personnel. Much credit goes to the players for having poise throughout.”

Road woes continue for Oregon
Ducks fall to Portland for 11th straight loss away from McArthur Court
BY RON BELLAMY
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Sunday, Nov 22, 2009

What's New: Story
PORTLAND — Oregon’s first game on the road this season went like virtually all of them did last season, ending in a loss, 88-81, to the University of Portland before 3,386 Saturday night in the Chiles Center.

That the Pilots are picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference certainly removed Oregon’s first loss of the men’s basketball season from the category of horrific, but it remained the Ducks’ 11th straight road loss and came a year to the day after their last road win, over UC Irvine last Nov. 21.

So what were the lessons from this one?

“I didn’t think we practiced very well this week, and there are some guys who went to flick a switch, and the switch didn’t flick,” coach Ernie Kent said. “And it has nothing to do with Portland, because I thought Portland played very well, but obviously you can’t give up 61 percent from the field in the second half, 80 something from the three-point line and then they shoot 80 percent from the free throw line, too.

“They played very well, and they’re a gritty team. …

“The thing I learned from it is ‘practice,’ and maybe these guys understand just how important that is of having that intensity level every day, because we kind of shut down a little bit in the game and it cost us.”

The Pilots (3-0) were led by senior guard Nik Raivio, who scored a game-high 24 points, and by 6-foot-10 center Robin Smeulders, whose 17 points included 9-of-12 from the free throw line as the Ducks (3-1), with center Michael Dunigan sidelined by injury, found themselves in mismatches in the paint in the second half.

Portland shot 61.5 percent from the field in the second half, and 85.7 percent — six-of-seven — from three point range.

“We had a little bit of breakdowns,” said guard Malcolm Armstead, who in his fourth game as a Duck had a career-best 21 points, plus two assists, three steals and no turnovers. “People lost a little bit of their man. We’ve got to rotate better and communicate better as a team. …

“They just got kind of hot. It’s hard to slow a player down when a player gets hot and gets going.”

Which Armstead did, with 17 of his points coming in the second half.

“For his first road game in a Duck uniform, I felt that he really stepped up and took over the game for us at times and hit some big shots” Kent said. “He did everything he could do to win the game. He didn’t have a lot of help at times offensively.”

Senior forward Joevan Catron and freshman forward Jamil Wilson combined for 2-of-9 from the field. Senior guard Tajuan Porter scored 13 points in the game’s first 13 minutes, and just two the rest of the way.

“When I talk about playing like you practice, that’s what I saw,” Kent said of Porter. “I thought he was a little bit out of it in practice all week long, and he was not looking for his shots, and why, I’ll never know, because we were running plays for him to look for his shot and he wasn’t looking for his shot. Not too often is he going to do that.”

The Ducks led 45-37 at halftime, but the Pilots opened the second half with a 15-1 run and led by as much as 10 before Oregon battled back. The Ducks had their last lead at 72-70 on a three-pointer by Armstead, but Portland took the lead for good, 75-72, on a three-pointer by Jared Stohl with 4:02 left.

The Ducks were within a point, at 75-74, but Portland scored six straight, interspersed with missed threes by Armstead and E.J. Singler. The closest the Ducks could get after that was within three on a drive by Armstead with 1:02 left, but the Pilots scored the next seven to ice it.

PORTLAND 88, OREGON 81

Key stat: The Pilots shot 6-of-7 (85.7 percent) from three-point range in the second half.

Notes: The game ended an eight-year home-and-home contract between the Ducks and Pilots. ... Oregon was outrebounded for the first time this season, 37-33. ... Freshman E.J. Singler, who opted against redshirting this season, played 18 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing two rebounds.

MJGoGaels wrote:I am disappointed for the team though with only 3368 showing up? To get Oregon in the Chiles... the place should have been sold out. Perhaps this is the victory that gets the bandwagon fans on board and laying down money to watch a very good team.

Geezaldinho wrote:

just because.

mattywizz wrote:Thanks Geez. I can't wait for the highlight video so I can see it.

PilotNut wrote: Efforts to resurrect the Far West Classic holiday tournament in Portland as a showcase for the state's four Division-I schools have been floated recently, but most of those have been met with resistance for a variety of reasons.

Nobody with either of the Pacific-10 Conference schools has come right out and said it, but one of the overriding factors seems to be that the Beavers and Ducks don't want to mess with either of the two mid-major programs on a neutral court both teams' backyard.

Geezaldinho wrote:

mattywizz wrote:Thanks Geez. I can't wait for the highlight video so I can see it.

This will have to tide you over until then.


You can just make out a pretty good part of the PilotNation brain trust in the background.