Portland 74, Santa Clara 52

Portland 74, Santa Clara 52: Win (and Bulldogs' loss) puts Pilots in race for first

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Portland Pilots had just finished off a 74-52 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night, but instead of a celebration, everybody was looking for updates on their phones or computers.

Because at that moment, 50 miles up the road, Gonzaga was losing in overtime to San Francisco.

Suddenly, the Pilots (14-7, 5-2 West Coast Conference) are in the middle of a three-way battle for first place with the Bulldogs and Saint Mary's. On Thursday, Portland will travel to Spokane with a chance to move into a tie for first place in the WCC.

"They're going to be coming after us," Jared Stohl said. "They're going to be upset and coming right at us."

Stohl will be one of the keys. He scored 16 points on Saturday to lead the Pilots, hitting four three-pointers to break the school record for his career -- he now has 212, one more than Casey Frandsen. In four games since leading scorer Nik Raivio went out with a strained right Achilles tendon, Stohl has averaged 18.5 points.

Portland had little trouble with the Broncos (9-15, 1-6), breaking open a close game midway through the first half and cruising to the victory. The Pilots shot 63 percent in the first half (15 of 24) and built a 42-22 lead at the break.

T.J. Campbell had 13 points for Portland and Luke Sikma came off the bench to score 15 points and grab a game-high 12 rebounds.

"We like Luke coming off the bench because he gives us an energy, a spark," Stohl said. "Scoring, rebounding, he just brings our team up as soon as he comes in."

Said Sikma, who had no idea his numbers were so big: "Wow, OK. I just came out, I got a bucket early. I actually came out and had a couple of turnovers that I wasn't happy with. But I settled down. Shots were falling for me, so I started looking for it, I tried to stay aggressive. My teammates were doing a great job of finding me."

Portland was never threatened by Santa Clara after the opening minutes. The Pilots turned the ball over 15 times -- a little too loosey-goosey for coach Eric Reveno -- but their defense was outstanding. The Broncos shot just 36 percent for the game (18 of 50) and were outrebounded, 38-28.

"I told our guys when we defend like that, we're tough to beat," Reveno said. "On the road, you've got to dig in and defend. They came out and boy, they disrupted us defensively. We couldn't run offense, we couldn't do anything, turned it over a bunch."

Now, it's off to the Kennel. Reveno said don't read too much into the Bulldogs' struggles this week in the Bay Area.

"It's a long season," he said. "The fact that they take everyone's best shot so well night-in and night-out, is amazing to me. I think maybe it's just a matter that they're on the road and a younger team, these guys aren't used to this as much.

"I think they're pretty good in the Kennel, I don't think they'll be much less on Thursday."

--Damin Esper

The Pilots turned the ball over 15 times -- a little too loosey-goosey for coach Eric Reveno -- but their defense was outstanding. The Broncos shot just 36 percent for the game (18 of 50) and were outrebounded, 38-28.

up7587 wrote:Broadcast next week from the Kennel is on ESPN2, so Mesa should be happy.

[b]In four games since leading scorer Nik Raivio went out with a strained right Achilles tendon, Stohl has averaged 18.5 points.