Box Score

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. --- The Portland Pilots dropped their second straight road game to a ranked opponent, falling by a 73-53 margin to the No. 23 Saint Louis Billikens before 7,087 fans at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday night. Portland falls to 3-5 overall, while the Billikens improve to 7-1 on the season.

The Billikens, who have already posted signature wins over Washington, Boston College, Villanova and Oklahoma, have only lost to Loyola Marymount this season. SLU has defeated all other opponents by at least ten points.

Freshman center Thomas van der Mars led the Pilots in scoring for the second straight game, finishing with 12 points before fouling out midway through the second half. Sophomores Tanner Riley and Ryan Nicholas added 11 points each for Portland, while sophomore point guard Tim Douglas finished with 10.

The Billikens were led by senior Brian Conklin with 19 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting from the field. Cody Ellis added 16 points, while Kyle Cassity and Mike McCall, Jr. finished with 10 each.

Portland, who was without sophomore center Riley Barker (knee), trailed by as much as 26 points early in the second half before going on a 15-4 run to cut the deficit to 50-35. That would be as close as the Pilots would get as SLU continued to knock down shots throughout.

SLU shot 52 percent from the field for the game, compared to Portland’s 47 percent. The Billikens made 7-of-17 three-pointers, while the Pilots made 3-of-9 from beyond the arc.

“Our margin for error against a Top 25 basketball team on the road is very small,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “Saint Louis is a tough, well-coached and veteran team that exploited our mistakes in the first half.”

The Pilots committed 16 turnovers in the game, including 12 in the first half when SLU built a late 25-point lead. The Billikens gained a 24-10 edge in points off of turnovers and 15-7 margin in second chance points.

“The goal for our team is to be competing in the top half of the West Coast Conference and our non-league schedule is preparing us well for that challenge,” Reveno said. “There is no hiding the fact that we need to improve. However, we have already shown the ability to improve at a good rate and I think we have the pieces be a very good basketball team.”

Portland continues its road trip with a Wednesday game at Boise State (5-1) scheduled for a 6 p.m. (PST) tip-off. The game will be aired live on 800 AM (KPDQ) with a 30-minute pre-game show.