PORTLAND, Ore. – Franklin Porter scored a career-high 24 points and Josh McSwiggan drilled five second half three-pointers to lift the Portland Pilots to a 72-67 comeback win over Cal Poly Friday night in the Portland Classic at the Chiles Center. The Pilots have now won four games in a row.

Porter finished 7-of-9 from the field, 6-of-7 from three-point range and made all four of his free throw attempts. He added six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

McSwiggan erupted with five three-pointers after the break to ignite yet another Pilot comeback, the third time in the last four games that Portland has overcome a halftime deficit to win.

In those wins against CSUN, Lewis & Clark, and Cal Poly, the Pilots (5-2) have outscored the opposition by 17.7 points in the second half.

Portland trailed by as much as 13 points late in the first half and were down 33-23 at the half on Friday.

The Pilots blitzed the Mustangs (1-4) with a 20-8 run after the break capped by McSwiggan's third consecutive three-pointer to take a 43-41 lead. The teams would be tied and trade leads seven times from that point until Porter buried back-to-back threes to give the Pilots a 60-57 edge with 4:24 remaining. Portland would hold the lead until the final buzzer, but it wasn't without drama.

Sophomore forward Tahirou Diabate took a nice pass from JoJo Walker and dunked in the lane followed by another Porter triple for a 66-60 lead. Porter added a pair of free throws and Walker tacked on one more to give the Pilots their largest margin of the night at 69-60 with 45 seconds remaining.

Cal Poly made a final surge as Mark Crowe hit a contested three and layup to cut it to 72-67 and then the Mustangs stole the inbounds pass with 20 seconds left. They hoisted a pair of three-pointers and a jumper, but came up empty and Porter fittingly corralled the rebound and dribbled out the clock.

The 24-point performance eclipsed Porter's previous high of 21 set last season against Hartford on Dec. 19.

Portland freshman center Theo Akwuba continued his impressive interior play for the Pilots and recorded three blocked shots for the third straight game. He also finished with nine points and eight rebounds in 29 effective minutes of action.

Walker also finished in double figures with 12 points, grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and dished out five assists.

Jaakkola Tuukka led a balanced Cal Poly attack with 13 points off the bench, while Crowe finished with 10.

The Pilots shot 42 percent for the game, but finished at 61 percent from the field and 9-of-13 from three-point range in the second half. Portland also scored 25 fast break points, compared to just four for the Mustangs.

Cal Poly was held to 39 percent shooting, but the Mustangs gained a 41-32 rebounding margin, 16-2 advantage on second chance points, and 32-16 edge in the paint.  

Portland struggled offensively in the first period as Cal Poly scored 20 points in the paint in the half. Porter made 3-of-4 three-pointers before intermission, but the rest of the Pilots were 0-for-12 beyond the arc before the break.
 
Texas State cruised to an 82-50 win against USC Upstate in Friday's first game. The Portland Classic concludes on Saturday with a basketball tripleheader at the Chiles Center. The Pilot women's team hosts Cal State Fullerton at noon, followed by USC Upstate and Cal Poly at 2:30 p.m. The tournament winner will be determined when the Pilots meet Texas State at 5 p.m. One ticket gets fans access to all three games. Visit PortlandPilots.com/Tickets for more information.