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No. 23 Saint Mary’s Knocks off Pilots on Senior Night

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The No. 23 Saint Mary’s Gaels clinched at least a share of their second straight West Coast Conference regular season title with a 70-43 victory over the Portland Pilots on Thursday night. Portland senior Nemanja Mitrovic scored a team-high 14 points on Senior Night, while fellow senior Eric Waterford returned from injury to make the start before 2,829 fans the Chiles Center.

The Pilots (6-22, 3-12 WCC) have one game remaining in the regular season, at BYU on Saturday at 3 p.m. (BYUtv). A Portland win would secure a No. 7 seed in the Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships and a Thursday night matchup with No. 6 San Diego, while a loss would pit the Pilots in the No. 8 spot and an opening round game on Wednesday night against No. 9 Santa Clara.

Thursday saw the Pilots jump out to a 14-11 lead as Mitrovic scored nine quick points, including a pair of three-pointers in the opening five minutes. The Gaels (24-5, 13-2) responded by going on a 20-2 run over the next 9:24 and carried a 35-18 lead into halftime. It marked the second lowest first half output this season for the Pilots (16 at St. Louis).

Portland opened the second period with a 7-2 run to pull within 38-25, but Saint Mary’s would grow the margin to as much as 31 points down the stretch.

Portland struggled to 32 percent shooting from the field en route to a season low 43 points. Mitrovic was a bright spot as he found his shooting stroke and knocked down 3-of-4 three-pointers. Waterford, who missed the previous eight games with a knee injury, made his first appearance since Jan. 21.

Five Gaels reached double figures led by Clint Steindl with 15 points. Senior forward Rob Jones added 12 points and 13 rebounds, while junior guard Matthew Dellavedova finished with 12 points and nine assists.

Saint Mary’s held a 34-24 rebounding edge and 38-16 margin in points in the paint.