STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers cruised to an 84-57 victory over the Portland Pilots Thursday afternoon in West Coast Conference men's basketball action at the Spanos Center. The Pilots were without leading scorer Ahmed Ali and fellow point guard Chase Adams, due to injury.
Michael Henn led the Pilots (6-13, 0-10 WCC) with 13 points, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Isiah Dasher moved into the starting point guard role for the night and finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
Interim head coach Ben Johnson played all 12 active players at least eight minutes and sophomore walk-on Miles Turner scored his first points of the season. Fellow walk-on Wyatt Watson buried a pair of three-pointers late for a season-high six points.
The Tigers (6-5, 3-4) snapped a five-game losing streak with the win. Jeremiah Bailey led four Pacific players in double figures with 21 points, while Jordan Bell added 18 points and nine rebounds.
Pacific shot 52 percent from the field and limited the Pilots to 37 percent overall. The Tigers also racked up a 38-24 rebounding margin for the game and scored 40 points in the paint.
Henn buried a three-pointer on the first offensive possession to give Portland a brief lead, but Pacific quickly raced to a double digit advantage. The margin grew to 21 points late in the period before an Eddie Davis three and two Henn free throws made it 45-28 at the half.
The Tigers created more separation early in the second half and would lead by as much as 32 points late in regulation.
As it stands now, Portland's next game will at home against these same Pacific Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. That game will be televised live on NBC Sports Northwest and 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT). The Pilots were previously scheduled to play at Santa Clara this Saturday, but due to COVID-issues within the Broncos program the game was postponed.