PORTLAND, Ore. – First-year Portland Pilots head coach Terry Porter knows a little bit about quality point guard play. The two-time NBA All-Star saw plenty lot of it Friday night as senior Alec Wintering led the Pilots to a 71-55 victory against UC Riverside to give Porter his first collegiate win. A crowd of 2,601 fans at the Chiles Center watched Wintering erupt for 24 points, a career-high eight rebounds and eight assists in the winning effort.
Portland sophomore Jazz Johnson added 17 points, including all three of his three-point attempts, while junior forward Gabe Taylor added 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Pilots (1-0) got off to a slow start and trailed through the game's first six minutes before Wintering took over. He made five consecutive field goals to turn a three-point deficit into a 13-9 lead and the Pilots would never look back. The margin grew to nine at the half and would stay in double figures for most of the second period as the Pilots cruised to victory.
Porter and the Pilots stifled the Highlanders (0-1) with a mixture of man and zone defenses throughout the night. UC Riverside shot just 31 percent overall and made 5-of-27 three-pointers. The Pilots finished at 47 percent from the field and drilled 9-of-21 triples.
Portland had a 24-20 margin in points in the paint and 8-2 edge in fast break points. Riverside slightly outrebounded the Pilots, 41-40, including a 15-7 margin on the offensive glass.
The Pilots got a nice boost off the bench in the first half from sophomore guard Rashad Jackson with seven points and two rebounds. Junior center Philipp Hartwich got the starting nod and played 27 minutes grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots.
Porter went with an abbreviated rotation for much of the night as Taylor logged a team-high 38 minutes, Wintering played 35 and Johnson, 32.
Freshman point guard Andre Ferguson and freshman center Joseph Smoyer – a Portland native from Franklin High School – officially logged their first collegiate minutes. Ferguson played five minutes, while Smoyer closed out the last minute of the first half.
The Highlanders were led by Malik Thames with 18 points, while Secean Johnson added 12 and Arizona State transfer Chance Murray finished with 11.
Portland will next take the court at San Jose State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be aired live on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT) with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Pilots return to the Chiles Center to host Lewis & Clark on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets for all Pilot home games are available by visiting
PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.