Box Score
LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- Portland will await a postseason invitation after being dealt a 69-55 loss to Saint Mary’s in the semifinals of the 2010 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championship Sunday night at the Orleans Arena. The Pilots shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from the three-point line in the loss. Senior forward Ethan Niedermeyer scored a team-high 12 points for Portland.
The Gaels (25-5) advance to the championship game against the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
Portland, which has tied a school Division-I record with 21 wins, will now look for a second consecutive postseason tournament invitation. Last year, after enduring a 13-year postseason drought, the Pilots participated in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament last year.
Portland junior Luke Sikma joined Niedermeyer in double figures with 11 points, but four Gaels players scored in double digits. Omar Samhan, Mickey McConnell and Matthew Dellavedova had 16 each, while Jorden Page added 14 off the bench. Samhan also pulled down 13 rebounds as the Gaels would gain a 37-25 margin on the boards for the game.
Saint Mary’s shot 56 percent from the field and made 7-of-17 three-pointers.
After five ties and four lead changes in the opening minutes, the Gaels took control with an 11-0 run to lead 20-12. Saint Mary’s pushed to a double digit lead on a Samhan tip-in and took their largest lead of the period at 30-16 on another layup by the league’s leading scorer at the 6:43 mark. The Pilots closed the deficit to 37-26 at the break.
An early 6-0 run by the Pilots to start the second half seemed to get the team back on track, but Saint Mary’s would hold the Pilots without a field goal over the next 10:44 to put the game out of reach. The Gaels lead would grow to as much as 24 points down the stretch as Portland struggled to score.
Portland entered the game as the No. 8 three-point shooting team in the country (.404) and junior guard Jared Stohl led the nation in three-point accuracy entering Sunday’s game (.480), but the Gaels were No. 5 nationally in three-point defense (.282). The Pilots were held to 3-of-11 from beyond the arc, while Stohl was held to 0-for-1 from long range against the Gaels’ suffocating perimeter defense.
The Pilots dropped to 11-3 without the services of leading scorer Nik Raivio (14.1 ppg), who missed his 14th consecutive game with an Achilles’ strain. Raivio is hopeful to return if Portland is rewarded with a postseason bid.
