Box Score
ANAHEIM, Calif. --- The Portland Pilots ran into a juggernaut on Sunday evening in the 76 Classic championship game. Portland, who defeated UCLA and No. 16 Minnesota to reach the finals, had its five-game season-opening win streak snapped with an 84-66 loss to the No. 8 West Virginia Mountaineers. Pilot senior point guard T.J. Campbell was named to the five-player all-tournament team after logging 12 points, five assists and three rebounds versus West Virginia.
Senior Da’Sean Butler scored a game-high 26 points for the Mountaineers and deservingly took tournament MVP honors. Teammate Kevin Jones added 17 points, including 13 in the first half, and joined Butler on the all-tournament team.
Senior guard Nik Raivio had a team-high 15 points for the Pilots (5-1), while juniors Jared Stohl and Kramer Knutson added 11 points each.
The Pilots led early in the contest courtesy of solid defense and interior scoring, jumping out to an 12-8 advantage on a pair of free throws by Raivio. The Mountaineers, who started out 2-for-12 from the field, regained the lead courtesy of a big advantage in the rebounding column. WVU gained a 26-10 edge on the glass in the first period, including 14 offensive rebounds. The Mountaineers scored 10 second chance points in the period and found their offensive rhythm.
Portland, meanwhile, struggled to knock down any perimeter shots. The Pilots were the No. 2 three-point shooting team in the nation last year and came in shooting nearly 50 percent from long range, but were 1-for-12 on three-point attempts in the first half. Despite the poor start, Portland only trailed 39-25 at intermission.
The Mountaineers (5-0) extended the lead to a game-high 22 points with a 7-0 spurt midway through the second period. Devin Ebanks converted a three-point play for a 58-46 edge with 9:57 left. The Pilots used a 10-0 run capped by a steal and dunk by junior forward Robin Smeulders to cut the deficit to just 10 with 4:08 remaining, but WVU would get defensive stops and make 14-of-19 free throws in the final four minutes to seal the victory.
The Pilots fall to 6-43 all-time against ranked opponents and 0-18 against Top 10 competition. Despite the loss, many national writers at the Anaheim Convention Center indicated that Portland should be considered for the top 25 when Monday’s polls are released. The Pilots have been nationally ranked only three weeks in the program’s history, that being during the 1958-59 season.
Portland will return home to host crosstown rival Portland State on Wednesday at the Chiles Center. Tip-off is schedule for 7 p.m. and tickets are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets or at the Pilot Box Office on campus.
2009 76 Classic All-Tournament Team
Kevin Jones, West Virginia
Gordon Hayward, Butler
T.J. Robinson, Long Beach State
T.J. Campbell, Portland
Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia (Tournament MVP)
Game No. 12 Post-game Quotes – West Virginia vs. Portland
WEST VIRGINIA
Coach Bob Huggins –
(Opening Comments) “I think if no one else, it shows our guys that we can win by not shooting well, but staying in the game because we rebounded well. The strength of our team is undoubtedly our versatility in our players. If you asked us at the beginning of the tournament, we thought we would probably be playing Butler or Minnesota and I think on paper that’s what everyone thought as well, but it didn’t turn out that way. We were getting ready for those teams, but Portland is a really good team that runs their offense well so it was a great win against a good program. I thought our guys did a really good job of concentrating where Portland’s shots came from and making a decision of how to play after.”
Player Da’Sean Butler
(In regards to what he learned about his team in Anaheim that he didn’t know before) “On and off the court everyone on the team is way tougher than I thought they would be. At the games everyone is mentally tougher and never complains. I would say we just came together as a team more as opposed to being just individual players.”
(What he thought about Kevin Jones) “People ask me what I think about Kevin and I can honestly say I think he is the best player on the team. He trains hard, he’s in the gym before everyone, he plays with all he has, he’s always where he’s supposed to be, and he knows the game inside and out.”
Player Kevin Jones
“We definitely are looking forward to the future games on our schedule and take this game with a confidence boost. It shows we can hang with the good teams in the country.”
PORTLAND
Head Coach Eric Reveno
“Let me just start by saying what a great weekend this has been for our team. The final result isn’t what we had hoped for but we learned a lot about ourselves during this tournament. I spoke earlier about how neat and nice this team is and how special we can be if we achieve our goals. I’m disappointed in many respects in that we would have liked to have competed better in the first half. They crushed us on the boards and we tried to disrupt them, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole to get out of. We are going to look at these three days and see how much we have improved and see what we need to continue to work on to be competitive. I loved that these guys really tried to battle back and they showed some true heart and competitiveness tonight.”
(On what he thought of West Virginia) “I was hoping that they weren’t going to be better in person then we saw on video, but they are really impressive. They are a tough team that gets in there and really battles for the ball and competes.”
(on what Portland’s performance in the tournament means) “I don’t really want to look at it from a program prospective this time of year. I kind of have tunnel vision and am just focusing on what we can do to get better as a team right now. If I take a step back and look at it as a program, I see us really building and executing towards our goals.”
Player TJ Campbell
(on facing Portland State next week) “We are going to take what we did in this tournament and learn from it. We’re going to go there and try to execute. We are going to try to do that against every team we play from here on out.”
(on the size and strength of West Virginia) “Their length really bothered us. They are a tough and athletic team. We’ll go back and watch the film and see what we can do to get better.”
Player Kramer Knutson
(on what people should think about Portland) “I hope that people see that we play as a team. We don’t have a bunch of guys out there playing for themselves and trying to make big shots. We play as a unit and go hard every time we are on the floor.”
