Complete Release (PDF) I Live Video I Live Audio I Live Stats

Portland Pilots (16-10, 7-7) at Saint Mary's Gaels (19-6, 11-3)
Date: Feb. 19, 2015
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Moraga, Calif.
Venue: McKeon Pavilion
Video: TheW.tv
Radio: Sports 910 (KMTT)

POR vs. SMC Series
Overall Series: 29-59
Home/Road: 21-23/7-33
Neutral: 1-3
Last 5/10: 0-5/1-9
Last: SMC 74, POR 64 (1/24/15 at Portland)
 
THIS WEEK
• Portland looks to extend its four-game win streak with a road trip to Saint Mary's and Pacific this week.
• The Pilots visit the Gaels on Thursday for an 8 p.m. tip-off on TheW.tv with JB Long and Dave Bollwinkel providing the commentary. Saturday's 7 p.m. game at Pacific will also be on TheW.tv with Zack Bayrouty and Bob Thomason on the call.
• All Portland basketball games will be aired live on Sports 910 (KMTT) with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes prior to tip-off. Bill Johnson will call the play-by-play all season long.
• Pilot watch parties for all WCC road games will be hosted by Buffalo Wild Wings-LLoyd District.
 
ABOUT THE  PILOTS
• Portland swept Pepperdine and LMU at the Chiles Center last week and extended its winning streak to four games. The Pilots now sit alone in fifth place in the WCC standings.
• The Pilots held Pepperdine to 36 percent shooting in a 69-52 rout on Thursday night. All five Pilot starters reached double figures, led by 15 points apiece from senior G Kevin Bailey and sophomore PG Alec Wintering.
• Portland held off a late LMU rally on Saturday to secure a 66-63 victory. Bailey had 14 points, while junior G Bryce Pressley and senior F Volodymyr Gerun added 13 points each.
• Previously, the Pilots swept San Francisco (69-57) and Santa Clara (74-54) on the road.
• Portland has held its last four opponents to under 40 percent shooting.
• Senior C Thomas van der Mars isUP's all-time leader in blocked shots (106) and is also top 10 in rebounds, FG pct., and games started.
• Wintering leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.517) and also ranks top five in assists, steals, and assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Bailey has 1,270 career points which ranks 10th in school history.
• The Pilots rank 31st nationally in assists per game (15.3), 32nd in three-point percentage (.388), 33rd in rebounding margin (+5.3), and 48th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.24).
• Wintering has two game-winning three-pointers  this season. He opened WCC play at San Diego with a three with 0.3 seconds left for a three-point win and then beat the buzzer in Portland's 72-69 win versus Pacific.
• Bailey missed eight games with a foot injury suffered against Portland State on Dec. 3 before returning to the court versus Santa Clara on Jan. 8.
• A four-year starter, Bailey averaged 16.5 points per game a year ago before missing the final seven games with a leg injury.
• Van der Mars is a four-year starter and was an Academic All-America last year.
• Portland is 6-2 this season in games decided by five points or less after finishing 1-7 last season.
• Portland returns four starters and seven of the top eight scorers from last year's team that finished 15-16 overall.
• Portland added five newcomers to the roster this season with four freshmen and a junior college transfer. Four of the newcomers have Pacific Northwest ties, while the fifth is 7-footer Philipp Hartwich (Cologne, Germany).
• Freshmen Jason Todd, D'Marques Tyson and Gabe Taylor have grown into key rotation players early in the WCC season with Todd and Taylor each earning their first career start at Pepperdine.
• Head Coach Eric Reveno added experience to his staff in the offseason with the addition of veteran NBA head coach Herb Brown and former Portland Trail Blazers video coordinator Tim Grass.
• The Pilots have signed three high school seniors to NLI's already: Jazz Johnson (Lake Oswego, Ore/Lake Oswego HS), Colin Russell (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Chiir Maker (Sydney, Australia/Newington College). Johnson broke the Les Schwab Invitational scoring record by averaging 35.0 points per game against elite national competition earlier this year. Russell is a McDonald's All-America nominee. Maker recently scored 49 points in a loss to Rainier Beach (Wash.) as part of a Pacific Northwest Tour with Newington College.
 
ABOUT SAINT MARY'S
• The Gaels (19-6, 11-3 WCC) sit alone in second place in the WCC standings after splitting a road trip last week.
• Saint Mary's dropped an 82-60 decision at BYU and then pulled out a 69-62 double overtime victory at San Diego.
• The Gaels only other conference losses have come at Gonzaga and at home to Pepperdine.
• Senior C Brad Waldow is averaging 20.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, while Kerry Carter (12.2) and Aaron Bright (10.6) are also posting double-digits in scoring.
• Head coach Randy Bennett is in his 14th season and has led the Gaels to eight postseason appearances and five NCAA Tournaments in the last ten seasons.
• Saint Mary's won the series opener this year at Portland by a 74-64 decision and swept the season series last year.
 
DEFENSIVE MENTALITY
• The Pilots have held the last four opponents under to 63 points or less during the current win streak.
• All four opponents have shot less than 40 percent overall from the field.
• LMU scored 14 points in the final 56 seconds on Saturday to reach the 63-point mark. It snapped a three-game streak of holding opponents in the 50s.
• The last time Portland held three or more consecutive opponents under 60 points was late in the 2009-10 season (4).

DOMINATING THE BOARDS
• Another recent trend has been dominating the rebounding battle.
• Portland has outrebounded the last four opponents, three by double digits: San Francisco (11), Santa Clara (13) and Pepperdine (13).
• For the season, the Pilots have outrebounded 18 of 26 opponents and rank 33rd nationally in rebounding margin (+5.3).

INJURY UPDATES
• Senior C Riley Barker suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the Jan. 8 win against Santa Clara.
• Senior G Kevin Bailey returned to the lineup on Jan. 8 after missing the previous eight games with a foot injury suffered in the first half against Portland State on Dec. 3.
• Junior G Bryce Pressley missed the Jan. 8 and Jan. 10 games with a concussion, but returned to the lineup the following week.
• Senior G David Carr is out for the year with a torn ACL from the offseason.

PRESSLEY HEATING UP
• Junior G Bryce Pressley has started to heat up from three-point range, hitting at least one triple in 11-of-the-last-12 games.
• He has made three or more three-pointers in five of the last six games, going 17-for-33 during that span.
• Despite missing all four of his three-pointers vs. Pepperdine on Thursday, Pressley finished with 10 points and is averaging 12.6 points over the last six games.
• Last season, Pressley finished second in the WCC in three-point percentage (.457) and he has raised his average to 43.8 percent this year.

VAN DER MARS ESTABLISHES SCHOOL BLOCKS RECORD
• Senior C Thomas van der Mars now owns the Portland record for career blocked shots with 106. He passed previous leader Tim Frost (2000-02, 103) in the second half at Santa Clara on Feb. 7.
• Van der Mars already joined the 1,000-point club earlier this season and has cracked the top 10 in school history for rebounds, field goal percentage and games started.

LINEUP ADJUSTMENTS GO FULL CIRCLE
• Portland opened the season with a starting lineup of Wintering, Pressley, Bailey, Gerun and van der Mars for the first seven games of the season and went 6-1 in those games.
• The Pilots have had to juggle the rotation due to various injuries to key players since, using seven different starting lineups in the last 19 games.
• The original starting five has been back on the court together the last seven games.
• Wintering and Gerun are the only players to start all 26 games.

WINTERING DELIVERS BUZZER BEATER... AGAIN
• Sophomore PG Alec Wintering buried his second game-winning three-pointer this WCC season when he beat the buzzer on Jan. 22 for a 72-69 win over Pacific. The shot made SportsCenter's Top 10 plays for the night at No. 2.
• Wintering opened WCC play by burying a step-back three-pointer to win the game at San Diego on Dec. 27 with 0.3 seconds left.

GERUN GRABS 15 BOARDS
• Senior F Volodymyr "Voldy" Gerun recorded a career-high with 15 rebounds at Gonzaga on Jan. 29.
• Gerun has been a key contributor all season and is one of only two Pilots to start at 26 games.
• He was named to the Challenge in Music City All-Tournament Team and had 13 points and 14 rebounds in the WCC opener at San Diego.
• He erupted for a career high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting against SIU-Edwardsville. That came six days after recording his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds at San Jose State.
• Gerun joined the Pilots last season after a brief stop at West Virginia, but playing behind a pair of three-year starters averaged just 11.2 minutes per game.
• He dropped 15 pounds over the last offseason and it showed as he logged 41 active minutes against SJSU.
• Gerun earned the starting nod in place of the graduated Ryan Nicholas and is averaging 8.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and is shooting 51.1 percent from the field.
 
WINTERING CONTINUES BREAKOUT CAMPAIGN
• Alec Wintering's 13.6 points per game in WCC play ranks ninth in the league.
• He recorded his seventh 20-point game at USF on Feb. 5 and also had 26 points, four rebounds and four assists against Santa Clara on Jan. 8. He has scored 20 or more points four times in league play including 20 points and eight assists versus Gonzaga and a career-high 30 points at BYU.
• His effort at BYU was the first 30-point game for a Pilot since Jared Stohl tallied 30 against Idaho on Dec. 22, 2009.
• He also finished 15-of-17 from the free throw line, marking the first 15 makes from the foul line since Darren Cooper versus Oregon on Dec. 22, 2005.
• Wintering dished out a season-high 12 assists at Sacramento State and followed up with 24 points and five assists at UNLV.
• He had 27 points with six assists against Portland State on Dec. 3 after going 7-of-12 from the field and 11-of-13 at the foul line.
• That effort bettered his career-high of 24 points at San Jose State on 7-of-11 from the field, 4-of-4 from three-point range, and 6-of-6 at the foul line.
• The Charlotte, N.C. native is shooting the ball with much more confidence this season. He leads the WCC in three-point percentage (.517).
• Wintering also ranks second in the league in assists (5.8), fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3), fifth in steals (1.4) and eighth in FT percentage (.825). 
• Wintering had a phenomenal freshman campaign in which he started the first 27 games before a leg injury sidelined him the final four games of the season – Portland went 0-4 without him.
• Wintering ranked third in the WCC in assist/turnover ratio (2.2), fourth in assists (4.5), fifth in steals (1.6) and ninth in FT percentage (.833) last year.
• His 13 assists against San Francisco were the most by a Pilot against a D-I school in program history, and one shy of the school record.
 
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
• The Pilots rank third in the WCC and 84th nationally in points per game (71.0)
• Portland's 38.8 percent from three-point range ranks 32nd nationally.
• Portland has shot 70 percent or better from the free throw line in the 16 of the last 23 games.

VAN DER MARS REACHING MILESTONES
• With 20 points during a win at Sacramento State on Dec. 14, Thomas van der Mars became the 37th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
• He now has 1,184 career points in addition to owning the school blocked shots record (106) and holding down fourth place in career field goal percentage (.555).
• A native of The Netherlands, van der Mars is also seventh on the UP career rebounding charts (777).
• Van der mars had a dominating performance against Portland State on Dec. 3 with 19 points and 14 rebounds. He was 9-for-9 from the field.
• A third team Academic All-American and WCC honorable mention pick last year, van der Mars was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team this season.
• On Jan. 23 he was named as one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to the top men's basketball senior to have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

BARKER'S SEASON, COLLEGIATE CAREER OVER
• Riley Barker stepped up big this season, including a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds versus UNLV in his first start this year.
• He added 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots at BYU.
• One of the top shot blockers in school history, he was on pace to break the school record before a season-ending knee injury versus Santa Clara on Jan. 8.
• The Surrey, British Columbia native concludes his career with 91 blocked shots, 12 shy of the Pilot all-time leader, Tim Frost (2000-02).

REBOUNDS AND BLOCKED SHOTS
• Portland has used its size and experience to become a good rebounding team and the No. 1 shot blocking squad in the WCC.
• The Pilots have outrebounded 18 of the 26 opponents this season and rank 33rd nationally with a +5.3 rebounding margin.
• Portland averages 4.4 blocked shots per game, tops in the WCC.

CLOSE CALLS
• Portland has played three overtime games this season and are 6-2 in games decided by five points or less.
• Portland opened the season with an overtime win at San Jose State, lost in OT at home to Oregon State and then dropped another extended game at UNLV.
• Games at Sacramento State and versus Murray State in Nashville also came down to the closing seconds with the Pilots pulling out both wins.
• The latest thriller came against Pacific with Alec Wintering beating the buzzer with a three-pointer for a 72-69 win. Wintering also hit won the game at San Diego with a three-pointer with less than one second remaining.
• Last season, the team went 1-7 in games decided by five or less and was 1-1 in overtime games.

FRESHMEN TAKING ADVANTAGE
• Freshman G Jason Todd has played effective minutes since moving into the regular rotation.
• Todd is averaging 4.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 51 percent from the field and 49 percent from three-point range. More importantly, Todd has been one of the team's best perimeter defenders and can play multiple positions on the wing or as a stretch four.
• Todd, the two-time Washington Gatorade State Player of the Year at Mill Creek HS, grabbed a season-high eight rebounds versus Montana State and scored 12 points versus Santa Clara.
• Freshman F Gabe Taylor was pressed into more court time following Riley Barker's injury. The Portland native responded with a season-high 12 points in 26 minutes of action against Santa Clara. He followed with eight points and three rebounds against USF and finished 9-of-10 from the field in the two games.
• Taylor led Valley Catholic School to consecutive Oregon 3A State Titles playing under former Pilot assistant coach, Joel Sobotka.
• Freshman G D'Marques Tyson has also had a great impact. He scored a season-high 25 points off the bench in Portland's loss to Valparaiso at the Challenge in Music City. Tyson finished the game 9-for-11 from the field and 6-for-8 from three-point range. He also had 13 first half points in the road win at San Diego and 12 points against San Francisco.
• Tyson is second on the team with 32 three-pointers made this season and is shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc.
• The Bothell, Wash. native played last season at Quality Education Academy in North Carolina after helping lead Lakeside HS to the Washington 3A title game as a junior.

BAILEY IS BACK
• Senior G Kevin Bailey got off to a fast start averaging 13.1 points per game, but the Clovis, Calif. native injured his foot against Portland State and missed the next eight games.
• He returned to the lineup off the bench on Jan. 8 versus Santa Clara and finished with four points in 11 minutes of action. He followed with 20 points against USF and a season-high 28 points against Pepperdine on Saturday.
• Prior to the injury, Bailey made some big plays early in the season. He hit a clutch jumper and two free throws late against Murray State to clinch the win against the Racers and also ignited Portland's second half rally against San Jose State with 13 points over the final 10:29, including the game-tying three-pointer with 3:14 remaining.
• Bailey has 1,270 career points which ranks 10th in school history.
 
IT'S ALL-ACADEMIC
• Under Coach Reveno the Pilots have thrived academically.
• Last season Thomas van der Mars was named a third team CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming just the second men's basketball player in program history to earn the honor (Rick Raivio, 1980).
• Ryan Nicholas was also the recipient of the 2014 Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Association Postgraduate Scholarship and joined van der Mars on the 10-player national all-academic team.
• The team boasts a 100% graduation rate, a near-perfect rating in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, and 14 WCC All-Academic selections since 2007.

STAFF ADDITIONS
• Head Coach Eric Reveno bolstered his staff with an infusion of NBA-level expertise in the offseason.
• Herb Brown, who has 45 years of coaching experience including four NBA Championship rings, joined the bench as an assistant coach.
• Former Portland Trail Blazers Video Coordinator, Tim Grass, was hired as Portland's Video Technology Coordinator.
 
PORTLAND VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS
• Last season's win versus Gonzaga was the seventh all-time for Portland against an Associated Press Top 25 program and the first since defeating No. 22 Minnesota at the 2009 Anaheim 76 Classic. The victory snapped an 11-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
• Portland is now 7-57 all-time against AP Top 25 ranked opponents and has never defeated a top 10 opponent.

EARLY NLI SIGNINGS
• Jazz Johnson (Lake Oswego, Ore/Lake Oswego HS), Colin Russell (Folsom, Calif./Folsom HS) and Chiir Maker (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) signed NLI's in November and will join the Pilots as freshmen next year.
• Johnson (6-0, 175) is a combo guard that earned Oregon 6A All-State honorable mention honors last season. He was a Three Rivers League First Team selection in his first year with the Lakers after leading the league in scoring. Last week he broke the Les Schwab Invitational scoring record by averaging 35.0 points per game against elite national competition.
• Russell (6-8, 220) is an active post presence and has raised his profile over the last two seasons while playing for highly competitive prep and club teams. He helped Folsom High School win the California Division 2 Northern Region Championship and led the team to a runner-up finish at the state championship.
• Maker (6-7, 190) is a versatile wing with good size and athleticism. Throughout his prep career at Newington College he put up big numbers while displaying a nice shooting stroke with good range. He his prep team recently concluded a 10-game tour through the Pacific Northwest highlighted by Maker scoring 49 points against Rainier Beach (Wash.).
 
SPORTS 910 ONCE AGAIN IS THE HOME OF THE PILOTS
• The Pilots have returned to Sports 910 (KMTT) for all men's basketball games as well as the Monday night Portland Pilots Basketball Show.
• Coverage for all home and road games begins with a 30-minute pregame show and concludes with postgame highlights, stats and interviews.
• Veteran voice of the Pilots Bill Johnson is back to call the action and host the Portland Pilots Basketball Show, which airs each Monday 7-8 p.m. throughout the season and features head coach Eric Reveno in studio.
• Fans are encouraged to call in with questions and comments about the program to (503) 542-0910. The show will be streamed live via both Sports 910 and PortlandPilots.com. Fans can interact and ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #AskCoachRev.