LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Portland Pilots pulled out a 60-55 victory over the San Diego Toreros Friday night in the opening round of the 2017 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena. Portland entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed and defeated the No. 7 seeded Toreros.

Portland advances and will take on the tournament's No. 2 seed and 18th-ranked Saint Mary's on Saturday at approximately 9 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.

Sophomore guard Jazz Johnson led the Pilots (11-21) with a team-high 17 points, while junior Gabe Taylor added 12 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore walk-on point guard Xavier Hallinan continued his late-season impressive run with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals while playing all 40 minutes.

Senior Brett Bailey scored a game-high 19 points for the Toreros (13-18), while Olin Carter III and Cameron Neubauer added 11 each.

San Diego had swept the season series, including an 85-82 win over the Pilots on Saturday in the regular season finale, but Hallinan missed that game with the flu.

It was close from start-to-finish as the largest lead for either side was eight points when Johnson converted a three-point play and followed by a Jarrel Marshall jumper to give the Pilots a 41-33 lead. The Toreros responded with three straight three-pointers to cap an 11-0 run to re-take the lead. It was short-lived though as Taylor scored six consecutive points in what would be a nine-point second half for the junior from Newberg, Ore.

Portland would maintain the lead the rest of the way, although San Diego would cut the margin to 56-54 on a Tyler Williams three-pointer with 2:10 remaining. Marshall then forced Neubauer into his fifth foul and converted both free throws with 1:06 left to make it a two-possession game.

Juwan Gray made one-of-two free throws and then the Toreros forced a Pilot turnover with 39 seconds left. Trailing by three, San Diego called timeout, but Taylor intercepted a pass and Johnson knocked down two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Portland shot 47 percent from the field for the game and committed just 11 turnovers while forcing 14. The Pilots gained a 26-10 edge in points in the paint and 15-6 margin in points off of turnovers.

Carter III had given the Pilots fits in both regular season games so head coach Terry Porter employed a box-and-one defense for a majority of the game and limited Carter III to just five shot attempts. San Diego was held to 36 percent overall, but made 11 three-pointers to stay close.

The first half featured five ties and five lead changes before Hallinan made a late runner to give the Pilots a 32-29 halftime lead and momentum.

Portland advances but will face a stiff challenge in the Gaels, who have been nationally ranked all season. The Gaels swept the Pilots with a 74-33 drubbing in Portland on Jan. 12 and then were pushed to the final minutes in a 51-41 win in Moraga, Calif. on Feb. 9.

Roxy Bernstein and Jon Barry will provide the commentary on the ESPN 2 broadcast which will start no earlier than 9 p.m. (PT). Radio coverage will begin at approximately 8:45 p.m. on 910 ESPN-Portland.