PORTLAND — Portland forced 23 turnovers and limited Idaho State to 22.9 percent shooting in a 67-35 blowout at the Chiles Center Sunday afternoon. Darren Cooper led the Pilots (11-4) with 12 points, while Doug D’Amore came off the bench for eight points to lead the Bengals (6-6). Portland improves to 5-1 on its home court this season.
The 35 points allowed is a season-low for Portland, which held the Bengals to just 11 field goals in 48 attempts. Sunday was the Pilots most dominant defensive effort since an 82-33 victory over Seattle University in 1999. Portland’s 11 non-conference wins is the highest total since the 1978-79 squad finished with a 12-1 mark.
The game was the second meeting between the schools this season, as Portland came away with an 82-73 victory on Dec. 6.
“We played extremely well today,” said Portland head coach Michael Holton. “We did things that we needed to do in terms of our rebounding and defense, which was the best it has been all year today. Everyone who played stayed within our team concept of defending and rebounding.”
Marcus Lewis added 11 points and nine rebounds and Donald Wilson reached double figures for the third straight game with 10 points. Freshman Jeremiah Dominguez dazzled the crowd of 889 with a season-high seven assists.
ISU finished 3-of-19 from three-point range and was outscored 32-8 in the paint. After spotting the Bengals an early 2-0 lead, Portland quickly took the lead for good and gradually extended the margin to 38-17 at the half. The Pilots stifling first-half defense forced 18 ISU turnovers leading to 15 points. Cooper scored all 12 of his points during the first period.
The Bengals never threatened after the break, making just 5-of-27 shot attempts in the half. Portland’s lead reached 34 points following a Sherrard Watson layin at the 5:16 mark.
The Pilots shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) and controlled the boards with a 41-31 rebounding edge. For the second game in a row 11 players were in the scoring column as head coach Michael Holton was able to get his reserves extended minutes. Leading scorer Pooh Jeter played only 15 minutes and was one of 10 Pilots to see at least 10 minutes of action.
“Since this was our last game before conference play, we wanted to ring the bell loudly in terms of what we needed to do,” Holton noted. “This is an extremely competitive conference top to bottom. We’re aware that we have been projected to finish in the basement, not that we completely agree with that, but that is why you play the games. We feel like our conference schedule gives us an opportunity to be defined and we are excited about playing Saint Mary’s next.”
Portland opens West Coast Conference play on the road against Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara. The Pilots will face the Gaels on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7:05 p.m., before playing Santa Clara on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.
