PORTLAND, Ore.- The University of Portland men’s basketball team sent Saint Mary’s to the free-throw line and made some costly turovers when it counted, falling 70-51 in WCC action on Thurs., Jan. 15. Gaels’ reserve Paul Marigney went off for 30 points and eight boards, leading all scorers in the game. Portland drops to 7-9 overall, 1-2 in WCC play, while SMC improves to 1-6 on the year and picked up its first WCC win (1-0) of the season.

“We were down by just two points with seven minutes left to play and felt pretty good about the position we put ourselves in, but basically got shut out the rest of the way,” said Head Coach Michael Holton.

“We needed to step up our defense and come up with an edge in our game,” said Donald Wilson. “We didn’t guard well and we couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

In the first half, Portland took control right from the tip. Pooh Jeter’s buzzer beater at 19:20 in the game on a 20-footer put Portland on top for an early 2-0 lead. The Pilots made a stop on the defensive end and freshman Dreshawn Vance followed with a dunk with 18:27 to go in the first half. Donald Wilson picked SMC’s Tyler Herr and went coast-to-coast for an 8-2 lead. The Pilots then went on a 10-6 run, closing in on the 14-minute mark with two made free-throws by Wilson.

The Gaels came back, sparked by Paul Marigney’s trey, closing Portland’s lead to just three. Portland kept its lead until the eight-minute mark when the Gaels went on a 19-9 run to close out the first half with a 37-28 lead.

In the first half, the Pilots shot 44 percent (8-18) from the floor, 40 percent (2-5) from beyond the arc and 83 percent (10-12) from the stripe. Saint Mary’s went 13-of-27 from the field in the first half and outscored the Pilots in the paint, 16-8 and from its bench 12-2. The Gaels had two players (Marigney: 10 points, E.J. Rowland: 12 points) already in double-figures heading into the break.

“They played great defense, our offense just wasn’t clicking and we just didn’t play well with the game on the line,” said Holton.

After the break, the Gaels stretched their lead to 13 on another Marigney jumper with 14:57 left in the game. Portland went on a 17-5 run with just over seven minutes to play, cutting the Gaels’ lead to two. Portland had contributions from five players during that stretch and the momentum seemed to be heading the Pilots’ way. But Saint Mary’s went on a 19-2 run and scored 10 points off free-throws alone in the final 6:25, turning a two-point lead into a 19-point win.

For the game, the Pilots shot just 33 percent (17-51) from the field, tying the second-lowest shooting performance of the season. Portland went cold from three-point range tonight, shooting a paltry 20 percent (3-15) and went to the line just seven more times in the second half (74 percent, 14-19). Saint Mary’s made 21-of-24 attempts at the charity stripe (88 percent) and shot 48 percent (21-44) from the field. The Gaels hit seven treys in the game, two in the final two minutes of play. Saint Mary’s bench racked up 32 points, compared to Portland’s nine and the Gaels out-rebounded Portland 35-24 for the game.

“I give Saint Mary’s a lot of credit,” said Holton. “The played a complete 40-minute game and I knew that they weren’t going to beat themselves.”

Portland’s leading scorer Pooh Jeter was held to nine points on the night. Teammate Donald Wilson was the only Pilot player in double figures with 16 points. Dustin Geddis led Portland on the boards with six, while Adam Quick added eight points for the game.

“I thought we did what needed to be done on defense to get back into the game, but we never took the next step forward,” said Holton.

Along with Marigney’s career-best 30 points, teammate E.J. Rowland totaled 16 points.

“We didn’t have an answer for their bench points,” said Holton. “we expended a lot of energy playing catch-up down the stretch and didn’t get a good response from our bench.”

Portland is back at home on Sat., Jan. 17, facing the San Francisco Dons for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off at the Chiles Center.