Box Score STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers overcame a late nine-point deficit to force overtime and then pulled out a 79-77 victory over the Portland Pilots in West Coast Conference men's basketball action on Saturday night at the Spanos Center.
Portland senior guard Kevin Bailey recorded a career-high 30 points in the loss, including all 12 of the Pilots' points in overtime.
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Tigers (11-17, 3-13 WCC), which started when the Pilots defeated Pacific in Portland on an Alec Wintering buzzer-beater on Jan. 22.
Portland led 59-50 with five minutes left and had a 64-56 edge on Bailey's jumper with 2:17 remaining.
The Tigers made a free throw and then collected the miss to set up a three-pointer by David Taylor to make it a four-point game. The Pilots (16-12, 7-9) couldn't convert and Ray Bowles made a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game.
Bailey made one of two free throws with 22 seconds left to give Portland a 65-62 lead. Taylor then drilled a step-back three-pointer to tie it with 10 seconds left.
After a timeout, the Pilots went to Wintering in hopes of his third game-winning buzzer beater of the season, but it came up short.
Both teams went to overtime missing key players as Portland center Thomas van der Mars and Pacific guard T.J. Wallace fouled out in regulation.
The Tigers took a six-point lead on a pair of free throws with 1:50 left in overtime, but Bailey answered with a big three-pointer. Taylor then beat the shot clock buzzer with a layup to give Pacific a 76-71 edge with 24 ticks left. Bailey hit another tough three and then Delani Robinson made two more free throws for a 78-74 Pacific lead.
Bailey wasn't finished though, as his off-balance 25-footer cut the deficit to one with 2.6 seconds left. Robinson was fouled and made one of two at the line and Wintering's desperation heave from 50 feet was off the mark at the buzzer.
Bailey finished the game 12-of-21 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point range. He added four rebounds and four assists. Wintering finished with 13 points, five rebounds and eight assists, while Bryce Pressley also finished with 13 points.
Taylor led four Tigers in double figures with 18 points.
Portland shot 46 percent from the field, while Pacific finished at 49 percent overall. The Tigers also outrebounded the Pilots by a 34-31 margin and had a 38-12 margin in points in the paint.
The Pilots will return home and conclude the regular season with a pair of big home games against BYU on Thursday and San Diego on Saturday. The Pilots enter Thursday night's game tied for fifth place in the WCC standings with San Diego, one game ahead of San Francisco. The top six teams in the final standings receive a bye to the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships in Las Vegas.
Thursday's game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off and it will be televised live on ROOT Sports NW. Saturday is the WCC Game of the Week and will tip at 1 p.m. live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and ROOT Sports NW. Radio coverage of both games begins 30 minutes prior to tip-off on Sports 910 (KMTT).
