PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots outscored the Pepperdine Waves 14-5 in overtime in an 85-76 West Coast Conference men's basketball victory Thursday night at the Chiles Center. Freshman forward Tahirou Diabate led the Pilots with 19 points and seven rebounds, while D'Marques Tyson and Josh McSwiggan added 16 each.
Despite foul trouble to numerous key players, the Pilots (9-15, 3-8 WCC) controlled the game throughout regulation and were up six with less than 40 seconds left in regulation, but the Waves buried a pair of threes to force overtime.
Portland freshman guard Marcus Shaver Jr. came up big in the extra session with seven points and Diabate had a clutch shot-clock beating jumper as the Pilots pulled away.
Eric Cooper Jr. led the Waves (4-19, 1-10) with 19 points, while Knox Hellums and Trae Berhow added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Pilots led by as much as 15 points in the first half, but Pepperdine chipped away and trailed by just three at the break. Portland held the lead for most of the second half, but a three-pointer by Hellums gave the Waves a 61-59 with 5:41 remaining.
Diabate finished at the rim on the next possession and then Tyson buried a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to give the Pilots a 66-63 lead.
McSwiggan made three free throws for a 69-65 lead and Diabate ignited the home crowd with a block at the defensive end when it looked like Colbey Ross had an uncontested layup. Marcus Shaver Jr. hit a pair of free throws to make it 71-65 with less than a minute remaining, but Hellums answered with a three-pointer.
The Waves forced a five-second call out of a timeout with 23.1 seconds left and Ross buried a 25-footer to tie the game with 11 ticks on the clock.
Franklin Porter missed a tough runner on the ensuing possession and then Ross heaved a 30-footer at the buzzer off the front rim to send it to overtime.
Portland shot 48 percent from the field, made 9-of-20 three-pointers and 20-of-25 free throws. The Pilots also dished out 17 assists and committed just 10 turnovers. Pepperdine was held to 40 percent shooting overall.
The Pilots were on fire offensively early and burst out to a 35-20 lead, but early foul trouble to Portland's post players stalled the run. Diabate scored 13 points in the first 12 minutes, but went to the bench for the final eight minutes with two fouls. Pepperdine closed the period with a 7-0 run and cut the margin to 45-42 at the half.
The Pilots will host the Loyola Marymount Lions on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the WCC Game of the Week. The Lions posted a 76-69 upset of BYU on Thursday night. Television coverage is on ROOT Sports Northwest, Spectrum SportsNet, NBC Sports California and AT&T Rocky Mountain. Radio coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. on 910 ESPN-Portland.