Box Score

Pilots Drop Hard-Fought Battle at BYU, 76-66

PROVO, Utah --- The Portland Pilots cut a 17-point second half deficit to six late in regulation before dropping a 76-66 decision to the BYU Cougars in front of a sellout crowd of 22,700 Saturday night at the Marriott Center. Sophomore forward Ryan Nicholas matched a career-high with 19 points and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds to pick up his fifth double-double of the season for the Pilots. BYU sweeps the season series, despite Portland converting more field goals and three-pointers in both games.

BYU (24-7, 12-4), which set a school record with 53 free throw attempts in a 79-60 victory at Portland on Feb. 4, once again gained a sizeable advantage from the free throw line. The Cougars made 21-of-31 from the foul line, while the Pilots were just 5-for-9. Portland was whistled for 28 fouls in the game to just 11 for BYU.

The Pilots (6-23, 3-13 WCC) finish the regular season in eighth-place in the league standings and will be the No. 8 seed at the 2012 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships. Portland will play the opening round game against No. 9 seed Santa Clara on Wednesday at the Orleans Arena.

BYU pushed a 13-point halftime margin to 47-30 on a Brandon Davies layup with 18:05 remaining in regulation. The Pilots would chip away at the deficit as Tanner Riley scored eight straight points, including a pair of three-pointers. Two free throws by Tim Douglas and a transition layup from freshman Thomas van der Mars made it 67-61 with 3:25 remaining, but BYU would make enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the visitors. Despite being held to just one field goal in the final 6:10, BYU would clinch the win from the free throw line by making 9-of-13 free throws over the same stretch.

Nicholas had a monster second half with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Spokane, Wash. native finished the night 8-for-14 from the field, drilled his only three-point attempt and was 2-for-3 at the free throw line. Portland sophomore guard Tanner Riley matched his career-high for the second time in the last three games with 16 points. He finished 4-of-9 from the three-point line. Sophomore guard Tim Douglas added 10 points off the bench.

Davies was scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead the Cougars. Brock Zylstra added 20 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while senior Charles Abouo finished with 16 points on his Senior Night.

Portland finished the game with a 38-34 rebounding advantage and dished out 17 assists. UP finished at 44 percent from the field (27-62) compared to BYU at 48 percent (25-52).

Portland will take on No. 9 seed Santa Clara in the Zappos.com WCC Championships first round game on Wednesday at the Orleans Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be live streamed at www.wccsports.com. The game will air live on 800 AM (KPDQ) with a 30-minute pregame show. The winner will advance to face No. 5 seed San Francisco on Thursday night.