SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Portland Pilots led for all but two minutes and used stingy defense to pull out a 55-49 victory against the San Diego Toreros Thursday night in West Coast Conference men's basketball action at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Sophomore Josh McSwiggan led the Pilots (7-13, 1-6 WCC) with 15 points, while freshmen Tahirou Diabate and JoJo Walker added 11 points apiece.

Portland held junior guard Isaiah Wright to a season-low three points on 1-of-8 shooting. Wright scored a career-high 30 points in San Diego's 81-74 win at Portland on January 4. Isaiah Pineiro led the Toreros (13-6, 4-3) with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

The Pilots limited San Diego to 36 percent shooting overall and outrebounded the Toreros by a 34-27 margin.

Despite leading for the first 33 minutes of the game and by as much as 11 points in the first half, the Pilots found themselves trailing 46-44 with 6:25 to go after a Pineiro layup.

Diabate converted a clutch basket in the post with 1:57 left to regain the lead for Portland at 50-48 and the team came up big at the defensive end to secure the win. Marcus Shaver Jr. had an important steal and Portland would hold San Diego scoreless until the closing seconds to seal the victory.

The Pilots shot 48 percent from the field and made 5-of-10 three-pointers. McSwiggan was an efficient 5-for-8 overall and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Senior center Philipp Hartwich blocked three shots and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

McSwiggan scored the first eight points of the game for the Pilots as Portland led from the outset. Portland's defense stifled the Toreros in the first half, limiting San Diego to 32 percent shooting and a 7:29 scoring drought. The Toreros missed their first eight three-pointers and trailed by 11, but a 30-foot buzzer beater from Olin Carter III cut the Pilots lead to 32-24 at the break.

The win snapped a 22-game WCC regular season losing streak for the Pilots, but Portland has now defeated the Toreros in two of the last three meetings after knocking San Diego out of the first round of last year's WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

The Pilots will conclude the Southern California road trip with a Saturday game at Loyola Marymount with a 7 p.m. tip-off on Saturday. That game is on television in the Portland area on live on ROOT Sports Northwest, while radio coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. on 910 ESPN-Portland.