Luke Sikma leads Pilots with a career-high 17 points

SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Freshman forward Luke Sikma scored a career-high 17 points, but the Portland Pilots couldn’t overcome a slow start in a 78-61 loss to the San Diego Toreros Saturday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The Pilots (8-18, 2-8 West Coast Conference) sputtered out of the gates as San Diego made their first four three-pointers and led 14-0 less than five minutes into play. The Toreros (15-11, 8-1) would push to the lead to 26-9 on a jumper by Brandon Johnson.

“We got some good shots early that didn’t drop and they got wide open shots that did drop,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “It snowballed from there and turnovers became a problem.”

USD took its largest lead of the night at 52-30 on a three-point play by Trumaine Johnson with 13:11 remaining, but the Pilots used full court pressure and late three-point shooting to pull within 70-59 with 2:36 remaining. Ultimately, the early deficit was too much to overcome.

Sikma had a stellar game, shooting 8-for-10 from the field and adding six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Fellow freshman Jared Stohl drained four threes and matched his career-high with 14 points. Sophomore forward Robin Smeulders added 11 points, all in the second half.

Brandon Johnson, who hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to beat the Pilots 64-61 in Portland earlier this year, led USD with 16 points. Freshman Trumaine Johnson and Rob Jones added 14 each.

“We’ve got to competitively respond better in games like today,” Reveno added. “The wake-up call needs to kick in earlier. I liked our response in the second half after we stopped the bleeding, but it was too much by that time.”

The Toreros shot 54 percent from the field for the game and made 7-of-13 three-pointers. The Pilots finished at 38 percent overall and 5-for-16 from long range.

USD used a three-pointer by Chris Lewis at the halftime buzzer to take a 37-22 lead at the break. USD shot 57 percent in the half, while Portland committed seven turnovers.

“We are undeniably on the right track,” Reveno continued. “The future is very bright and our young guys are getting better. Now we’ve got to get over the hump.”

Portland concludes its final regular season road trip of the 2008 season when they face the San Francisco Dons on Monday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet (Ch. 37).