Senior guard Darren Cooper scores 16 in his return to the lineup

OGDEN, Utah --- The return of Portland senior guard Darren Cooper was spoiled by the Weber State Wildcats Saturday evening at the Dee Events Center. Cooper had 16 points in his first game back since Nov. 11, but the Wildcats won by a 68-51 margin to complete a home-and-home sweep over the Pilots in front of 2,745.

Weber State (6-5) improves to 8-0 all-time against Portland, while the Pilots (2-10) dropped their seventh straight contest.

Cooper led all Pilots with 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting in 18 minutes of action

“Darren had an impressive performance tonight,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “He showed a lot of poise and toughness out there, unfortunately, he didn’t get much support tonight. We look forward to continue to integrate him back into the team as much as possible.”

Junior Sherrard Watson was the only other Pilot in double figures with 11 points.

Dan Henry led WSU with 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Wildcats controlled the boards with a 38-27 rebounding advantage, including a 14-7 edge in second chance points. It marks the first time in the last six games that the Pilots lost the rebounding battle, and only the third time all season.

Cooper, who had missed the previous nine games with a pulled hamstring, came out firing with 11 points in the first half for the Pilots, but Weber State led by as much as 19 with 5:31 remaining in the period. Portland used an 11-5 run to close the gap to 38-25 at the break.

“We had an uncharacteristic first half from a defensive standpoint,” Reveno said. “We dug ourselves a hole and that allowed (Weber State’s) confidence to rise. It was an even game after our early stumble, but we don’t have the offensive firepower to get out of an early hole like that.”

Watson came out of intermission with a layup to pull the Pilots within 11, but Portland would get no closer as the Wildcats pushed the lead back to 19 at 53-34 on a Tyler Billings layup with 9:51 remaining.

Weber State shot 48 percent from the field, while Portland struggled to 37 percent shooting. Both teams had 11 turnovers, although WSU gained an 18-7 edge in points off turnovers. The Wildcats had 13 assists to Portland’s seven.

Portland next travels to South Bend, Ind. take on the No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. (PST). The Irish (8-1) have won eight consecutive with their lone loss a season-opening defeat versus Butler. The game can be heard on KKAD 1550 AM or on the web at portlandpilots.com