Portland @ BYU, Saturday 2/25, 3pm

Pilots Close Regular Season at BYU

Portland Pilots (6-22, 3-12) at BYU Cougars (23-7, 11-4)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012
Tip-off: 3:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Provo, Utah
Arena: Marriott Center (22,700)
Television: BYUtv
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 0-6
At UP: 0-3
At BYU: 0-3
At Neutral: 0-0
Last: BYU 79, POR 60 (Feb. 4, 2012 at Portland)

COMING UP
• The Portland Pilots (6-22, 3-12 WCC) will play their final regular season game when they visit the BYU Cougars (23-7, 11-4) on Saturday in Provo, Utah.
• Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. (PST) at the Marriott Center and the game will be televised live on BYUtv.
• The game will determine seeds for both teams in preparation for the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships. A Portland win would secure the No. 7 seed and avoid the 8/9 Wednesday night first round game. BYU is currently alone in third place in the WCC standings, trailing Gonzaga by one game and ahead of LMU by one game. A win by the Cougars, or a LMU loss, would secure the No. 3 seed.
• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. Bill Johnson will provide the play-by-play and an audio simulcast will also be available on www.PilotsVideo.com.


ABOUT BRIGHAM YOUNG
• The Cougars (23-7, 11-4) dropped a 74-63 decision at Gonzaga on Thursday and are now alone in third place in the WCC standings.
• Junior F Brandon Davies had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six steals in the loss to Gonzaga, while senior G Charles Abouo finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• The Cougars struggled to 31 percent shooting in the game as senior F Noah Hartsock was limited to just seven minutes due to a knee injury.
• BYU was No. 46 in the official NCAA RPI released on Feb. 20. The Cougars posted impressive non-conference wins over Nevada (76-55), Oregon (79-65) and UC Santa Barbara (89-75). Losses came to Baylor, Wisconsin and Utah State.
• Two of BYU’s four league losses came to Saint Mary’s and the other was at home against Loyola Marymount.
• BYU knocked off the Pilots by a 79-60 margin on Feb. 4 in Portland. The Cougars set a school record with 53 free throw attempts in the game.
• Hartsock leads four players averaging double figures at 16.8 ppg, while Davies adds 14.6 ppg and 7.8 rebounds.
• The Cougars lead the WCC in scoring (79.1) and field goal percentage defense (.405).
• BYU, in its first year as a member of the WCC, was picked to finish third in the WCC Preseason Poll.
• Dave Rose is in his seventh season as head coach and posts a 182-52 overall record.



SENIOR NIGHT
• Three members of the Portland basketball team were honored on Thursday for Senior Night: guards Nemanja Mitrovic and Eric Waterford, and team manager Derek Duman.
• This senior class has accumulated the fourth most wins (66) of any class since UP joined the Division I ranks for the 1958-59 season.
• Mitrovic was an All-WCC First Team selection last year and ranks on Portland’s all-time Top 10 list in three-pointers made (6th, 153) and three-point percentage (7th, .387).
• Waterford has battled injuries as a senior, but has appeared in 79 career games with 25 starts. He returned to the lineup Thursday and played 13 minutes after missing the previous eight games with a knee injury.
• Derek Duman has been a team manager with the Pilots since his freshman season.


WCC TOURNAMENT SEEDING SCENARIOS
• Five of the nine seeds for the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships are already set entering Saturday’s games.
• Saint Mary’s (No. 1) and Gonzaga (No. 2) have secured the top two seeds and will receive byes to the Saturday semifinals.
• BYU and LMU are battling for the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds and will both have byes to Friday’s quarterfinals.
• San Francisco (No. 5) and San Diego (No. 6) will open the tournament on Thursday night against opponents to be determined.
• Portland will secure the No. 7 seed with a win at BYU. A loss will put the Pilots in eighth place and Pepperdine would be the No. 7 seed.
• Santa Clara is the No. 9 seed and will play the No. 8 seed in Wednesday’s 8/9 game. That game’s winner will move on to face No. 5 San Francisco on Thursday, while No. 6 San Diego will play the No. 7 seed.


LINEUP NOTES
• Eric Waterford (knee) returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing eight games.
• Sophomore C Riley Barker has missed the last 21 games (knee) and is out Saturday.
• Head coach Eric Reveno has used nine different starting lineups this year.
• Sophomore Ryan Nicholas is the only Pilot to start all 28 games this year, while 11 different Pilots have started at least one game.
• Three different freshmen have started at least four games.

DoubleDipper wrote: For those who like to watch the Pilots in hi-def, the game will be rebroadcast on CSNNW at 11pm.**

Also, GU @ USD is tape delayed on ROOT TV @ 7:30pm, and St. Mary's @ USF is on CSNNW at 8pm.

** In some areas of the country BYUtv is in hi-def.

blacksheep wrote:Byutv has an hd internet feed you might try.

Pilots Drop Hard-Fought Battle at BYU, 76-66

PROVO, Utah --- The Portland Pilots cut a 17-point second half deficit to six late in regulation before dropping a 76-66 decision to the BYU Cougars in front of a sellout crowd of 22,700 Saturday night at the Marriott Center. Sophomore forward Ryan Nicholas matched a career-high with 19 points and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds to pick up his fifth double-double of the season for the Pilots. BYU sweeps the season series, despite Portland converting more field goals and three-pointers in both games.

BYU (24-7, 12-4), which set a school record with 53 free throw attempts in a 79-60 victory at Portland on Feb. 4, once again gained a sizeable advantage from the free throw line. The Cougars made 21-of-31 from the foul line, while the Pilots were just 5-for-9. Portland was whistled for 28 fouls in the game to just 11 for BYU.

The Pilots (6-23, 3-13 WCC) finish the regular season in eighth-place in the league standings and will be the No. 8 seed at the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships. Portland will play the opening round game against No. 9 seed Santa Clara on Wednesday at the Orleans Arena.

BYU pushed a 13-point halftime margin to 47-30 on a Brandon Davies layup with 18:05 remaining in regulation. The Pilots would chip away at the deficit as Tanner Riley scored eight straight points, including a pair of three-pointers. Two free throws by Tim Douglas and a transition layup from freshman Thomas van der Mars made it 67-61 with 3:25 remaining, but BYU would make enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the visitors. Despite being held to just one field goal in the final 6:10, BYU would clinch the win from the free throw line by making 9-of-13 free throws over the same stretch.

Nicholas had a monster second half with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Spokane, Wash. native finished the night 8-for-14 from the field, drilled his only three-point attempt and was 2-for-3 at the free throw line. Portland sophomore guard Tanner Riley matched his career-high for the second time in the last three games with 16 points. He finished 4-of-9 from the three-point line. Sophomore guard Tim Douglas added 10 points off the bench.

Davies was scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead the Cougars. Brock Zylstra added 20 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while senior Charles Abouo finished with 16 points on his Senior Night.

Portland finished the game with a 38-34 rebounding advantage and dished out 17 assists. UP finished at 44 percent from the field (27-62) compared to BYU at 48 percent (25-52).

Portland will take on No. 9 seed Santa Clara in the Zappos.com WCC Championships first round game on Wednesday at the Orleans Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be live streamed at www.wccsports.com. The game will air live on 800 AM (KPDQ) with a 30-minute pregame show. The winner will advance to face No. 5 seed San Francisco on Thursday night.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:In all, I bet the coaching staff is proud of the effort. If we play that well this coming week, we could win a game or two. Especially if we can cut down on the fouls and turnovers.

PurpleGeezer wrote:Maybe that the BYU players are 26 year old Seniors had something to do with the decision making difference.

newpilotfan wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Maybe that the BYU players are 26 year old Seniors had something to do with the decision making difference.

If that's the excuse then we might as well throw in the towel. BYU's 26 year old seniors are here to stay.

up7587 wrote:They're just renting the WCC.