PROVO, Utah – Yoeli Childs finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds to lead the BYU Cougars to a 79-56 victory over Portland Thursday night in West Coast Conference men's basketball action at the Marriott Center.

The Cougars (10-8, 2-1 WCC) led by six at the half, but Childs erupted for 20 points after the break and led by as much as 25 late in regulation.

Junior Franklin Porter led the Pilots (7-10, 0-2) with 14 points, while sophomore guard JoJo Walker added 10 points.

Redshirt junior guard Crisshawn Clark made his Pilot debut and scored five points in 12 minutes off the bench. Clark, who hadn't played in an official game since the end of his freshman season at Cañada College in 2015, endured three ACL surgeries and a preseason foot injury this fall that required surgery to get back on the court.

Portland led 4-2 early, but then endured a nearly 11-minute stretch without a field goal until Marcus Shaver Jr. made a driving layup with 7:35 left in the half. The Cougars led by as much as 19 points midway through the half, but the Pilots stormed back and cut the margin to 30-22 on back-to-back three-pointers by Porter and Walker. Two more threes from Walker and Clark to make it a three-point game, before BYU took a 36-30 edge into the half.

Both teams came out firing in the second half as the Pilots made 6-of-9 from the field to start, but Childs and the Cougars were even better. BYU shot 54 percent from the field in the second half and capitalized on nine Pilot turnovers after intermission to extend the margin.

The Cougars racked up a 22-8 scoring margin in points off of turnovers and held the Pilots to 33 percent shooting in the game.

Portland will return home to host the Pacific Tigers on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game features free admission for kids and will be televised live on ROOT Sports Northwest.