San Francisco (6-9/1-1) pulled away midway through the second half Friday with a 19-5 run, on the way to a 73-59 win over Portland (8-8/1-2) in West Coast Conference basketball.

After Portland had closed within 43-41 on Karl Aaker’s 3-pointer, John Cox scored seven of his game-high 26 points in San Francisco’s 19-5 run. Cox scored 14 of his 26 points in the second half, and also added five rebounds. James Bayless added 19 points and eight rebounds, while Alvin Broussard added 11 points. Bayless was the Dons’ “X” factor, scoring nine points after Portland had gotten within 43-41.

Casey Frandsen topped Portland with 16 points and Donald Wilson had 12 points. Karl Aaker had a trio of 3-pointers for nine points, and Dustin Geddis had eight points.

Portland allowed San Francisco to shoot 57.8% from the field, and were outrebounded 32-17. The Pilots, meanwhile, didn’t have an answer for any of USF’s runs in the game. Portland was only 8-of-20 on 3-pointers, 20-of-46 from the field.

San Francisco used runs of 12-0 and 9-2 to take a 36-29 halftime lead, breaking out to leads of 20-8 and 36-25.

Portland answered with a 9-2 run after Casey Frandsen’s 3-pointer brought the Pilots within 25-21. From there, however, the Dons scored five quick points and had an 11-point lead before the Pilots scored the final four points of the half.

Frandsen had nine points to lead Portland in the first half, while Quick added seven. The Pilots were outrebounded 16-6 however, and allowed USF to shoot 58.3% from the field.