Darren Cooper reaches 1,000 career points on The Bluff in the loss

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. --- Junior Sherrard Watson scored a career-high 27 points and senior guard Darren Cooper scored his 1,000th career point as a Pilot, but Portland dropped a tough 70-67 decision to San Francisco Monday evening at War Memorial Gymnasium.

Portland concludes its regular season with an 8-22 overall record, 4-10 in West Coast Conference play. The Pilots will be the No. 7 seed and will face sixth-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round of the WCC Tournament, hosted by the Pilots at the Chiles Center, on Friday, March 2 at 8:05 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

The back-and-forth affair went down to the wire as the Pilots trailed by three with three seconds on the clock after a Manny Quezada free throw. Cooper took the inbounds pass but was unable to get a shot off before time expired.

It was another gutsy road effort that the Pilots came up on the wrong side of; following a close 82-76 loss at San Diego on Saturday after Portland led most of the game.

USF (13-17, 8-6) led by 10 points on two occasions in the second half, lastly with 3:13 remaining after Quezada drilled consecutive three-pointers. The Pilots whittled the lead down possession-by-possession, sending USF to the foul line and forcing key turnovers late to set up the final sequence.

“USF did a nice job of forcing us into perimeter shots in the second half,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. The Pilots made just 2-of-13 three-pointers in the second period and shot 38 percent from the floor compared to 52 percent in the first half.

“We should have tried to get the ball inside more,” Reveno added. “I thought we settled for outside shoots too early.

“It’s frustrating to come out on the losing end, but they made shots at the end and we didn’t.”

Watson carried Portland to a 30-28 halftime lead with 16 first half points. USF led 15-4 early, but the Pilots limited the Dons to 28 percent shooting in the period.

“Sherrard single-handedly kept us in the game in the first half,” Reveno said. “We’ve been on him hard, challenging him to be a consistent performer and to his credit he has embraced the challenge. He wants to be a consistent contributor and someone we can count on every night.”

Alan Wiggins, Jr. led four Dons in double figures with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Quezada also had 14 points, despite sitting out most of the second period in foul trouble. Antonio Kellogg and Johnny Dukes added 13 each.

Watson, who matched his career-high with 21 points on Saturday at San Diego, went 10-for-17 from the field and made all four of his free throw attempts. Sophomore forward Jamie Jones joined Watson in double figures with 10 points.

“This team has been exciting for us as a staff to coach all season,” Reveno said. “We have continued to get better as the season has progressed and we are by no means limping to the finish line. We’re getting stronger and improving each day. Now it’s tourney time and you have to perform or go home. We are excited to make a run at it.”