LMU @ Portland, Thursday 8pm

Pilots Hold off Lions in Double OT Thriller

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots and Loyola Marymount Lions needed two extra periods to determine Thursday night’s West Coast Conference matchup on ESPN2. Portland escaped with a 79-78 victory before a vocal crowd of 1,979 that were biting fingernails from start-to-finish. Senior forward Luke Sikma led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Pilots.

Sikma scored six points in the second overtime and the Pilots made 7-of-10 free throws in the period to jump out to a five point lead. Junior Drew Viney would bank in a three-pointer with 19 seconds left to cut the deficit to 76-75 and Pilot freshman Tim Douglas made one of two free throws to give the Pilots a two point lead. Viney again got a good look at a corner three with seven seconds on the clock, but missed long and Jared Stohl buried two free throws with five seconds remaining to make it a two possession game. LMU freshman Anthony Ireland hit a three at the buzzer for the final margin.

Portland (13-4, 1-1 WCC) appeared to have the game in hand late in regulation with a seven point lead and 2:56 remaining. The Pilots committed some key turnovers late that allowed the Lions (8-9, 1-2) a chance to win. Up five with the ball and 52 seconds remaining, the Pilots fumbled the ball out of bounds and Ireland made two free throws to cut the deficit to three. Another Portland giveaway led to two more free throws by Vernon Teel with 34 seconds left.

The Pilots missed the front end of a one-and-one and after Sikma block Teel’s layup out of bounds with six ticks remaining, the Lions called timeout. Viney came off of a screen and buried a corner three-pointer to put LMU up 60-58 with three seconds remaining. Sikma quickly grabbed the ball and launched a pass to Jared Stohl at the top of the key. Stohl took one dribble and was steamrolled as he attempted a 17-footer with two ticks on the clock. He buried both free throws and Ireland’s desperation half court heave was off to send the game to overtime.

Ireland hit a clutch pull-up three-pointer with 47 seconds left in the first OT to give LMU a 65-64 lead, but Sikma answered with a turnaround jumper at the other end with 27 seconds remaining. Redshirt freshman Edgar Garibay made one-of-two free throws with 19 seconds left to tie the score and Douglas missed a runner just before the buzzer to send it to the second OT.

In addition to his seventh double-double of the season, Sikma dished out four assists along with two steals and two blocked shots. Senior center Kramer Knutson added 12 points and nine rebounds, while Stohl and Nemanja Mitrovic chipped in 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Viney scored a team-high 24 for the Lions, who were held to 37 percent shooting for the game, including 7-of-32 in the second half. Portland struggled to 41 percent shooting for the game.

The Lions led by as much as nine points late in the first period before the Pilots mounted a surge and cut the margin to 30-26 at the half. Portland blitzed LMU early in the second half and led by as much as 10 points at the 10:58 mark.

Portland improved to 9-0 this season at the Chiles Center and will look to make it 10 when they host the Pepperdine Waves on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or at the Pilot Box Office 90 minutes prior to tip-off.


Newspaper Box Score
Loyola Marymount vs Portland
01/13/11 8:00 PM at Portland, Ore. {Chiles Center}
At Portland, Ore. {Chiles Center}
PORTLAND 79, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 78

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (8-9 (1-2 WCC))
VINEY, Drew 9-23 3-3 24; IRELAND, Anthony 5-11 3-3 15; GARIBAY, Edgar 3-5
4-6 10; DAVIS, Larry 3-8 0-0 8; EGBEYEMI, Ayodeji 2-4 0-0 6; TEEL, Vernon
0-10 6-8 6; HAMILTON, Ashley 2-7 1-2 5; OKONJI, Godwin 2-3 0-1 4. Totals
26-71 17-23 78.

PORTLAND (13-4 (1-1 WCC))
SIKMA, Luke 9-17 5-5 24; STOHL, Jared 2-8 9-10 15; MITROVIC, Nemanja 5-14
0-0 14; KNUTSON, Kramer 6-11 0-0 12; DOUGLAS, Tim 2-5 4-6 8; RODGERS,
Derrick 1-1 0-0 2; NICHOLAS, Ryan 0-1 2-2 2; BARKER, Riley 1-1 0-3 2;
HANNIBAL, Jasonn 0-0 0-0 0; RILEY, Tanner 0-1 0-0 0; WATERFORD, Eric 0-4 0-1
0. Totals 26-63 20-27 79.

Loyola Marymount.............. 30 30 6 12 - 78
Portland...................... 26 34 6 13 - 79

3-point goals--Loyola Marymount 9-27 (VINEY, Drew 3-8; DAVIS, Larry 2-4;
IRELAND, Anthony 2-7; EGBEYEMI, Ayodeji 2-4; HAMILTON, Ashley 0-1; TEEL,
Vernon 0-3), Portland 7-22 (MITROVIC, Nemanja 4-11; STOHL, Jared 2-6; SIKMA,
Luke 1-1; RILEY, Tanner 0-1; WATERFORD, Eric 0-3). Fouled out--Loyola
Marymount-TEEL, Vernon, Portland-None. Rebounds--Loyola Marymount 45 (TEEL,
Vernon 11), Portland 40 (SIKMA, Luke 10). Assists--Loyola Marymount 15
(TEEL, Vernon 5), Portland 18 (DOUGLAS, Tim 4; MITROVIC, Nemanja 4; SIKMA,
Luke 4). Total fouls--Loyola Marymount 24, Portland 18. Technical
fouls--Loyola Marymount-TEEL, Vernon; TEAM, Portland-None. A-1979

ShipstadPilot11 wrote:We NEED to work on our inbounds plays - I know this is along the same line as pressure defense but it has been a problem for a while.

I'd like to see more screen for our shooters. Jared/Nem get the ball on the arc but can't create enough space on their own to get a shot off. Screens should be the answer, right?

Stonehouse wrote:One other thing to note though... twice we rushed shots when we didn't need to after the refs had re-set the shot clock. Once, Eric took a bad shot and missed, the other time we got lucky and Jared buried a very deep three. All's well that ends well, I suppose, but really... we shouldn't make those types of mistakes. I realize part of the problem is that the refs kept stopping the game and messing with the shot clock, but sheesh - we're a veteran team and should know better.

Stonehouse wrote:And it's probably worth noting that Jared has been mired what's likely his worst shooting slump since the Portland State game. If he knocks down shots like he normally does, we don't even go to OT against LMU.

up7587 wrote:We haven't talked about this much, but this is a slump for Jared like we have never seen. Over the last six games, which included a 7-8 (2-3) performance against BSU, he is shooting 21-58 (0.362) on FGs, with 13-40 (0.325) on 3P shots. That is 10 percentage points lower than last year's figure on FG's and 15 percentage points lower on threes. Amazingly, his points per shot YTD is the same as last year's total. He started this year on fire, and that makes this recent slump so startling. One of his shots last night was almost ugly enough to look like something I'd do! Then he immediately followed it up with the rushed extra deep make. I don't know the solution, so I hope that the coaches do. There are too many times right now if Luke and Nem are not on the floor that I look and wonder where we are going to get some points.

blacksheep wrote:

up7587 wrote:We haven't talked about this much, but this is a slump for Jared like we have never seen. Over the last six games, which included a 7-8 (2-3) performance against BSU, he is shooting 21-58 (0.362) on FGs, with 13-40 (0.325) on 3P shots. That is 10 percentage points lower than last year's figure on FG's and 15 percentage points lower on threes. Amazingly, his points per shot YTD is the same as last year's total. He started this year on fire, and that makes this recent slump so startling. One of his shots last night was almost ugly enough to look like something I'd do! Then he immediately followed it up with the rushed extra deep make. I don't know the solution, so I hope that the coaches do. There are too many times right now if Luke and Nem are not on the floor that I look and wonder where we are going to get some points.

I think we need a little bit of perspective. The 10th place career Pilot in 3P% is some guy by the name of Pooh Jeter (anyone know what ever happened to that kid). His percentage was .373. Jared's "slump" is just .048 less than the 10th best Pilot ever in 3P%. I say keep feeding Jared the ball.

VillaGorilla wrote:

blacksheep wrote:

up7587 wrote:We haven't talked about this much, but this is a slump for Jared like we have never seen. Over the last six games, which included a 7-8 (2-3) performance against BSU, he is shooting 21-58 (0.362) on FGs, with 13-40 (0.325) on 3P shots. That is 10 percentage points lower than last year's figure on FG's and 15 percentage points lower on threes. Amazingly, his points per shot YTD is the same as last year's total. He started this year on fire, and that makes this recent slump so startling. One of his shots last night was almost ugly enough to look like something I'd do! Then he immediately followed it up with the rushed extra deep make. I don't know the solution, so I hope that the coaches do. There are too many times right now if Luke and Nem are not on the floor that I look and wonder where we are going to get some points.

I think we need a little bit of perspective. The 10th place career Pilot in 3P% is some guy by the name of Pooh Jeter (anyone know what ever happened to that kid). His percentage was .373. Jared's "slump" is just .048 less than the 10th best Pilot ever in 3P%. I say keep feeding Jared the ball.

Right on. Even with this slump, he's top 20 all time in career 3P%.

Also, on the deep shot he forced, the shot clock did not reset (although it should have after the ball glanced off the rim).

Rochin54 wrote:

VillaGorilla wrote:

blacksheep wrote:

up7587 wrote:We haven't talked about this much, but this is a slump for Jared like we have never seen. Over the last six games, which included a 7-8 (2-3) performance against BSU, he is shooting 21-58 (0.362) on FGs, with 13-40 (0.325) on 3P shots. That is 10 percentage points lower than last year's figure on FG's and 15 percentage points lower on threes. Amazingly, his points per shot YTD is the same as last year's total. He started this year on fire, and that makes this recent slump so startling. One of his shots last night was almost ugly enough to look like something I'd do! Then he immediately followed it up with the rushed extra deep make. I don't know the solution, so I hope that the coaches do. There are too many times right now if Luke and Nem are not on the floor that I look and wonder where we are going to get some points.

I think we need a little bit of perspective. The 10th place career Pilot in 3P% is some guy by the name of Pooh Jeter (anyone know what ever happened to that kid). His percentage was .373. Jared's "slump" is just .048 less than the 10th best Pilot ever in 3P%. I say keep feeding Jared the ball.

Right on. Even with this slump, he's top 20 all time in career 3P%.

Also, on the deep shot he forced, the shot clock did not reset (although it should have after the ball glanced off the rim).

And who cares anyways, it was a good shot. He was open, it was in his range. Shoot it!

Rochin54 wrote:

VillaGorilla wrote:

blacksheep wrote:

up7587 wrote:We haven't talked about this much, but this is a slump for Jared like we have never seen. Over the last six games, which included a 7-8 (2-3) performance against BSU, he is shooting 21-58 (0.362) on FGs, with 13-40 (0.325) on 3P shots. That is 10 percentage points lower than last year's figure on FG's and 15 percentage points lower on threes. Amazingly, his points per shot YTD is the same as last year's total. He started this year on fire, and that makes this recent slump so startling. One of his shots last night was almost ugly enough to look like something I'd do! Then he immediately followed it up with the rushed extra deep make. I don't know the solution, so I hope that the coaches do. There are too many times right now if Luke and Nem are not on the floor that I look and wonder where we are going to get some points.

I think we need a little bit of perspective. The 10th place career Pilot in 3P% is some guy by the name of Pooh Jeter (anyone know what ever happened to that kid). His percentage was .373. Jared's "slump" is just .048 less than the 10th best Pilot ever in 3P%. I say keep feeding Jared the ball.

Right on. Even with this slump, he's top 20 all time in career 3P%.

Also, on the deep shot he forced, the shot clock did not reset (although it should have after the ball glanced off the rim).

And who cares anyways, it was a good shot. He was open, it was in his range. Shoot it!

Rob's Jacket wrote:

purplepride13 wrote:they weren't going to let this one slip away.

Despite their best efforts ...

I'd also like to bring up the question of why Waterford was ballhandling when LMU obviously needed to foul near the end of regulation. There were four really good free throw shooters on the floor at that time - everyone except Waterford. Only two things worry me about this team: pressure defense, and protecting a late lead. They were pretty bad at both last night, and they're going to get spanked in Los Angeles if things don't get sorted out.

That said, a win is a win is a win.

onetouchfutbol wrote:Sikma had a huge game on the stat sheet: 24 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots. Not bad for a day at the office.