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Portland (15-7) extends its best start to West Coast Conference play by finishing 6-1 through the first half of the league schedule and will face No. 20 Gonzaga (16-4, 7-0) for first place in the conference standings on Thursday in front of a national television audience. It also marked the team’s sixth straight win and eighth in the last nine games. The 15 wins matched the program’s best since finishing 19-11 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1996.

That stage was set up by a dominating effort by the Pilots on Saturday, who led by as much as 22 points in the second half and improved to 10-1 this season on their home court.

“I’m really proud of our performance and the way we responded after getting hit in the mouth early,” Reveno said. “I think the defense dictated that we won, then we just happened to shoot the ball well and create some separation.”

Junior guard Nik Raivio erupted for 27 points, five rebounds and four assists to lead four Pilots in double figures. Sophomore guard Jared Stohl drained 6-of-7 three-pointers off the bench and finished with 18 points. Junior point guard T.J. Campbell had another stellar game with 13 points, seven assists and zero turnovers and sophomore forward Luke Sikma continued his solid play with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists off the bench.

Portland entered the game ranked 12th nationally in three-point percentage and showed off the range by going 11-for-18 from downtown, including 10 of their final 13 from long range. The Pilots shot 59 percent from the field, the highest percentage the Gaels (18-3, 5-2) have allowed this season. The 84 points were the second most that Saint Mary’s has allowed after entering the game giving up just 63.0.

Saint Mary’s was playing without leading scorer and Australian National Team point guard Patrick Mills, who suffered a broken hand on Thursday at Gonzaga and is expected to miss about a month.

“Your heart goes out to (Saint Mary’s) because they’re in a tough spot, that’s a tough situation to be in as a hard-working team,” Reveno said in regards to the Gaels missing Mills. “It’s hard for a college basketball team to go through, so I knew that we needed to stay on them, to our guys credit, the guys just dug in and made some plays.”

Junior center Omar Samhan paced the Gaels with 18 points and seven rebounds, while senior forward Diamon Simpson added a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.

The Gaels grabbed an early 21-12 on a layup by Lucas Walker with 8:44 left in the first period, but Portland got hot from the perimeter and erupted with a 22-3 run sparked by four late three-pointers and carried a 36-29 lead into halftime.

Raivio then opened the second half with consecutive layups and Portland would maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the game behind 69 percent second half shooting.

Saint Mary’s entered as the No. 3 rebounding team in the nation, but the Pilots held the visitors to a season-low 29 rebounds. The Pilots grabbed 28 boards for the game. Portland also had a season-low five turnovers, while limiting the Gaels to 39.6 percent shooting.

The next test for the Pilots will be against the Bulldogs in a much-anticipated game scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. The contest will be televised live nationally on ESPN2.

“It’s great to be in this position, I told the team that they should just enjoy this, feel confident and feel good about being good,” Reveno added. “But we need to remember why we’re good, and remember how we got here. We just got to keep grinding, but at the same time you want to appreciate where you’re at and what you’ve accomplished. You can do both … you can appreciate what you’ve accomplished and still be greedy and ask for more. We have our work cut out for us Thursday night, I hear Gonzaga is pretty good (laughing). We’re not going to surprise them, or sneak up on anybody anymore. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”