Box Score Video HighlightsRadio HighlightsPostgame InterviewsPORTLAND, Ore. --- Sophomore point guard Alec Wintering scored a career-high 27 points and senior center Thomas van der Mars added 19 points and 14 rebounds as the Portland Pilots beat crosstown rival Portland State by an 83-71 margin Wednesday night at the Chiles Center. The Pilots led nearly start-to-finish and were up by as much as 27 points late in regulation.
Portland's 6-1 is the best since the 1995-96 Pilots also won six of their first seven games. That team would go on to win 19 games and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Wintering, whose previous career high was 24 points earlier this season at San Jose State, made 7-of-12 from the field, 2-of 3 from three-point range and 11-of-13 foul shots. He added six assists and three rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
Van der Mars continued his dominance of the Vikings (4-2) by going a perfect 9-of-9 from the field. In last year's win at Portland State, van der Mars finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Portland played most of the game without leading scorer Kevin Bailey, who left late in the first half with a foot injury and did not return.
The Vikings took the early lead after a pair of free throws before tip-off as Portland was issued a technical foul for dunking during pregame warmups. The lead went to 4-0 on a jumper by Braxton Tucker, but Wintering scored the next seven points to give Portland the lead.
Van der Mars made a pair of layups and Pilot freshman D'Marques Tyson buried a three-pointer to give the Pilots a 23-16 lead and Portland would never look back. Wintering scored the final four points of the half to put Portland up 41-24 at the break.
An 11-4 run early in the second half pushed the margin to 64-40 on Pilot freshman Jason Todd's jumper. Consecutive layups by van der Mars and Bryce Pressley gave Portland its largest lead at 72-45 with 7:47 remaining. With the Pilots emptying their bench, PSU was able to rattle off a 20-2 run to bring the margin briefly back to single digits, but the decision was never in doubt.
The Pilots outrebounded the Vikings by a 44-27 margin and shot 50 percent from the field while holding PSU to 40 percent overall.
Pressley had a typically solid all-around game with nine points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots. Nine different Pilots scored in the game.
Tiegbe Bamba and DaShaun Wiggins led five Vikings in double figures with 13 points apiece.
Portland will return to the Chiles Center to host the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday at 7 p.m. Pregame radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on Sports 910 and a free HD video stream will be available at PortlandPilots.com.
GIF Highlights:
Alec Wintering had a career high 27 points, including this three-pointer in the second half assisted by Jason Todd. Wintering finished 7-of-12 from the field (2-for-4 from three) and 11-of-13 from the line.
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Thomas van der Mars brought the Chiles Center crowd to its feet with this huge alley oop in the first half, assisted by Bryce Pressley. Van der Mars notched the double-double with 19 points and 14 boards, and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the field.
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Voldy Gerun got in on the alley-oop action in the second half, throwing down this beautiful pass from Wintering. Gerun had eight points on the night.
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Bryce Pressley had a game-high three steals - one of them coming on this steal and coast-to-coast finish in the second half.
