Jamie Jones leads Pilots with 12 points and nine rebounds

CORVALLIS, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots opened the 2006-07 men’s basketball season with a 65-48 loss to the Oregon State Beavers on Friday night at the Oregon Rain Invitational at Gill Coliseum. Sophomore forward Jamie Jones led the Pilots with 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Marcel Jones recorded a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Beavers.

After a competitive first half that left the Pilots trailing 31-24, OSU came out of intermission with a 16-4 run over an eight minute span to grab a 47-28 lead. Marcel Jones led the spurt with 10 points and five rebounds, while the Pilots committed four turnovers. Portland cut the margin to 13 on a layup by Jones at the 10-minute mark, but the Beavers followed with nine unanswered points to put the game away.

Portland had 18 giveaways on the night which led to a 22-10 OSU advantage in points off turnovers. The Beavers also gained an 18-2 margin in fast break points, 40-22 edge in the paint and outscored the Pilots 16-12 on second chance points.

“Turnovers were the difference in the game,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “OSU created some with pressure, but it was mainly a result of poor half court execution. You will never beat a good team giving up 22 points off turnovers and allowing 16 second chance points.”  

The first half looked promising as Portland was able to get good looks in the half court set and held OSU to 37 percent shooting, but the Pilots missed numerous opportunities in the paint and converted just 6 of 12 free throw attempts in the period.

“As a competitor, it’s frustrating to have a game get away like that,” Reveno said. “We had our chances in the first half. If we make our free throws and convert some missed layups, we go into the half with the lead.”

Portland used an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Walter Thompson, to tie the game at 20-20 with 5:41 remaining in the first half. But that’s when things started to turn in OSU’s favor. Senior forward Sasa Cuic hit a turnaround jumper to give the Beavers a two point lead and OSU parlayed consecutive turnovers into a pair of easy baskets within 12 seconds to spark an 11-2 run and go into the break with a seven-point lead.

Cuic finished with 17 points and five boards. Jones was the only Pilot to reach double figures as the team struggled to 33 percent shooting for the game. OSU shot 42 percent from the floor.

Pilots senior guard Darren Cooper, the team’s leading returning scorer from a year ago, was limited to just six minutes off the bench as he is coming back from offseason knee surgery.

In the tournament’s opening game, Southeastern Louisiana overcame a 21-point second half deficit to beat Cal Poly, 76-69.

The Pilots will continue play this weekend in Corvallis against Cal Poly on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and conclude the tournament on Sunday versus SE Louisiana at 11:30 a.m.

“There is a definite learning curve and we need to focus on the things that will make us improve,” Reveno said. “The good thing is that we don’t have time to dwell on tonight’s performance. We’ll be back tomorrow with the opportunity to go out and compete.”