Box Score I Video Highlights
PORTLAND, Ore. --- Saturday afternoon was the latest in what has become a series of close finishes for the University of Portland men’s basketball team. The Pilots held off the visiting University of Idaho Vandals 68-65 before 1,236 fans at the Chiles Center. Junior guard Nik Raivio led Portland with 21 points and eight rebounds, including the go-ahead basket late and two clutch free throws in the closing seconds.
It marks the sixth time in seven games this season that the Pilots (5-2) have had a game decided by six points or less, and Portland is 4-2 in those contests.
Saturday’s game went down to the final buzzer as a potential game-tying half court heave by Idaho’s Mac Hopson missed as time expired.
Raivio broke a 64-64 tie with a layup at the end of the shot clock with 56 seconds remaining. Brandon Wiley made one of two free throws on the ensuing Idaho possession and the Vandals (4-4) nearly stole the ball and had a break away layup to take the lead with 14 seconds remaining. Trevor Morris knocked away a pass from Raivio and was headed towards the basket, but Raivio recovered and was able to knock it off of Morris and out of bounds. The Pilots had only five seconds on the shot clock to go the length of the floor, but were able to get Jared Stohl an open three-pointer in the corner. His shot rimmed off, but Pilot junior forward Robin Smeulders picked up the rebound and Idaho was then forced to foul Raivio. He calmly stepped to the line and drained both for the 68-65 final tally.
Smeulders added 12 points for the Pilots as he has reached double figures in all seven games this year. Sophomore forward Luke Sikma added six points and a season-high nine rebounds off the bench, while sophomore guard B.J. Porter provided a spark off the bench for the second consecutive game. Porter followed his career-high eight points on Wednesday versus Eastern Washington with seven points Saturday, including a highlight-reel alley-oop in the first half.
Hopson was impressive in his homecoming, finishing with 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting. The junior is a transfer from Washington State and attended Jefferson High School in Portland.
“Our defense is not where it needs to be at times,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “But at the same time, there is no quit in our team. We have some letdowns defensively, like at the beginning of the second half today, but the guys bounced back and made plays. We made plays to win which seems to be happening more often than not this season.”
Portland struggled from the field for the second straight contest, shooting just 38 percent from the floor and 8-for-24 from three-point range. Idaho shot 57 percent, but turned the ball over 20 times which led to a 22-9 advantage for the Pilots in points off of turnovers. Portland also gathered 15 offensive rebounds and had a 16-9 edge in second chance points.
Reveno related his pre-game talk with the team to a class situation, as the players have finals coming up next week. “They’ve done well in our class, but now it’s the final and I didn’t want to over prepare them. I wrote as little on the board as I have all year and focused on not giving up open shots, no second shots and play solid defense. We simplified things and just wanted our guys to play well.
“If I had to grade their final, I’d say that they got the answer right, but if I checked their work maybe they didn’t go about solving the problem the correct way. Ultimately though, the answer was right today so we’ll move on. I was frustrated with our effort on Wednesday, so I challenged them to respond with a better effort today and we got a good result.”
The Pilots were without junior forward Ethan Niedermeyer for the second straight game with a high ankle sprain, while freshman guard Nemanja Mitrovic also was unavailable because of illness.
Portland will take a week off for finals before opening a three-game road trip at Brigham Young on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. (Pacific) and the game will be televised on The Mountain. All Pilot games are available on the radio at 970 AM.
