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     The Portland Pilots will look to stay in the hunt for one of the top two spots in the West Coast Conference standings with a pair of road games in Southern California this week. Portland will face the Pepperdine Waves on Thursday at 5 p.m. live on FSN Prime Ticket and then visit the Loyola Marymount Lions on Saturday at 7 p.m. Thursday’s game will be aired locally on 970 AM (KCMD), while Saturday’s game will be on 95.5 The Game FM (KXTG). Pepperdine (7-19, 3-7) has lost seven in a row after starting 3-0 in league action, while LMU (13-13, 4-6) sits alone in fifth place in the league standings. The Pilots (16-8, 7-3) are a half game behind Saint Mary’s for second place, which receives a bye to the semifinals of the WCC Tournament.

Pilots Briefly

*Portland pulled out an 80-75 overtime win against Saint Mary’s on Saturday, the team’s first OT game of the season, after a 70-56 win over San Diego on Thursday
*T.J. Campbell scored a team-high 24 points with seven assists to lead the Pilots vs. SMC
*Luke Sikma added a double-double (12 pts, 11 rebs) along with key defensive stops late
*Campbell earned his third WCC Player of the Week honor after averaging 21.0 points in the wins
*Campbell is the first Pilot in history to earn three league player of the week awards in one season
*The Pilots have won six of their last seven games and are 10-2 at home
*Robin Smeulders recorded his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds  against San Diego
*Jared Stohl scored 16 points, including four three-pointers, vs. Saint Mary’s
*Stohl is the school’s career leader in three-pointers made (219)

*Leading scorer Nik Raivio has missed the last seven games (Achilles’ strain) and will miss both games this weekend on the road
*Stohl replaced Raivio in the starting lineup and is averaging 15.7 points in his absence

*Sikma leads the WCC in FG percentage (.574) and is second in rebounding (8.0)

*Stohl leads the WCC in 3-pointers made (3.0) and is fourth nationally in 3-point percentage (.468)

*Smeulders is averaging a team-high 14.7 points in WCC games
*Stohl went 10-for-15 from the three-point line vs. Idaho on Dec. 22 with 30 points, becoming the first college player in a decade to score 30 without making a free throw or two-point field goal

*UP also set a team and Chiles Center record for total three-pointers (16) in the win vs. Idaho

*UP cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time in 50 years on Nov. 30 (#25)

*Portland defeated UCLA (74-47) and No. 16 Minnesota (61-56), before falling to No. 8 West Virginia (84-66) at the 76 Classic in Anaheim over Thanksgiving weekend

*Campbell earned 76 Classic All-Tournament Honors and his second consecutive WCC Co-Player of the Week award after averaging 16.7 points in the three games at the 76 Classic

*Raivio recorded his 1,000th career point on Dec. 2 vs. Portland State

*Portland was picked second in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll behind Gonzaga

*Campbell and Raivio were named to the 10-player WCC Preseason All-Conference Team

*Raivio was also named an honorable mention mid-major All-America by CollegeInsider.com

*Portland appeared in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) last year, the program’s first postseason appearance since 1996

*The Pilots tied for second in school history last year in total wins (19) and WCC wins (9)

*Portland returns 12 players and all five starters

*2009 WCC Coach of the Year Eric Reveno and his staff remain together and enter their fourth year at the helm of the Pilots (assistants Joel Sobotka, Eric Jackson and Michael Wolf)

*Four high school seniors singed NLI’s with Portland on Nov. 11, 2009: Riley Barker, John Bailey, Ryan Nicholas and Tanner Riley

About Pepperdine

     After starting off 3-0 in league games, the Waves (7-19, 3-7 WCC) have lost seven in a row and are now in sixth place in the WCC standings. Pepperdine lost a pair of road games at San Francisco (77-47) and Santa Clara (62-54) last week. Six games during their losing streak have been by double-digit margins. The Waves are led in scoring by sophomore G Keion Bell (19.4 ppg) and junior guard Mychal Thompson (12.3 ppg). Pepperdine 5-9 at home this year, compared to an 0-10 road record. The best home win for the Waves came against Utah (76-64). The Pilots dealt Pepperdine an 80-64 loss on Jan. 23 at the Chiles Center earlier this year. T.J. Campbell scored a career-high 24 points for Portland, while Jared Stohl added 22. Bell paced the Waves with 21 points, but committed 10 turnovers. Head coach Tom Asbury is in the second year of his second stint at Pepperdine. Asbury returns four starters and 12 lettermen from a young 2009 team that finished 9-23 overall and 5-9 in the WCC. Portland took all three meetings from the Waves last year by double digit margins, including a 69-65 win in the WCC quarterfinals in Las Vegas. Pepperdine owns a 52-29 margin in the all-time series.