Portland Pilots (6-4, 0-0 WCC) vs. Kent State Golden Flashes (9-1, 0-0 MAC)
Date: Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center
TV: KUNP-TV / ESPN+
Radio: PortlandPilots.com
Live Coverage Links: Video I Audio | Stats
Tickets: PortlandPilots.com/Tickets

THIS WEEK
• The Pilots (6-4) host the Kent State Golden Flashes (9-1) on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.
• This is a 5-0-3 promotional game featuring $5 Tickets, $0 Parking and $3 hot dogs by using Promo Code '503' online at PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.

GAME COVERAGE
• Sunday's game will be televised locally on KUNP-TV and simulcast on ESPN+ with Bryan Sleik and Jennifer Mountain on the call.
• Radio for all Portland men's and women's basketball home games – and select road games – will be streamed on PortlandPilots.com with Jason Swygard calling the action. Pre-game coverage begins 20 minutes prior to tip-off and ends with a 15-minute post-game show. The Stanford game is not on the radio.
• Live coverage links for Portland games can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

LAST TIME OUT: Pilots 104, Lewis & Clark 87 (Dec. 5, 2025 — Portland, Ore.)
• James O'Donnell collected a career high 32 points and Timo George added 20 as the the Pilots pulled away from the River Otters.
• O'Donnell also tacked on 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. George added eight rebounds and Cameron Williams helped out with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
• Portland out-rebounded Lewis & Clark 48-21 in Friday's game and gained a 66-20 edge in points in the paint. The Pilots also grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and scored 26 second chance points.
• Portland went on a 6-0 run to take an early 9-3 lead. The Pilots maintained the lead and carried a 53-45 advantage. Portland did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 28 of its 53 points close to the basket.
• The Pilots used a 10-0 run, finished off by Garrett Nuckolls' layup, to grow the lead to 95-77 with 4:34 to go in the contest and the Pilots still cruised the rest of the way. Portland recorded 38 of its 51 second half points in the lane.

O'DONNELL OBLITERATES CAREER HIGH
• Sophomroe F James O'Donnell more than doubled his previous career high with 32 points in the win against Lewis & Clark on Dec. 5. His prior high was 15 points.
• O'Donnell also collected his first double-double with 10 rebounds in the contest.
• The transfer from San Francisco is now averaging 11.9 points and a team best 6.1 rebounds per game.

FRESHMAN PHENOMS
• Freshman PG Joel Foxwell has already earned two WCC Freshman of the Week awards and leads the WCC in assists per game (6.2) and is third among league freshmen in scoring (13.2). He is the NCAA freshman leader in assists per game.
• He recorded his first career double-double of 12 points and 10 assists to go along with six rebounds in Portland's 83-74 win against Arkansas Pine Bluff on Nov. 6.
• Freshman F Timo George leads the WCC and ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage (.708). George leads the team in scoring (13.6) and trails only WSU's Ace Glass among WCC freshmen. His 5.5 rebounds per game are also second among WCC freshmen and second on the team. He has reached double figures in 8 of 10 games despite playing just 20.4 minutes per game.
• Guard Dante Censori-Hercules has been a defensive stopper off the bench and appeared in eight of nine games.

BALLEW IS BALLIN
• Sophomore G Mikah Ballew moved into the starting lineup for the last three games is averaging 11.7 points through the first nine games.
• He scored a career high 20 points in the opener vs. Willamette, added 15 points against Arkansas Pine Bluff and made clutch plays late in a narrow 67-63 win against UC Davis.
• Ballew has made 31 of 37 free throws  and his 18 three-pointers made are tied with Joel Foxwell for tops on the roster.
• He was a key contributor last season off the bench for Portland and the most experienced Pilot returner in terms of minutes played and scoring.

HRONSKY FINDING A RHYTHM
• Duquesne senior transfer Matus Hronsky has reached double figures in three of the last five games and averaging 11.5 points over those five contests.
• He had 12 points against Northern Colorado and followed with 10 versus St. Thomas and then matched a career high with 16 against Long Beach State.
• Hronsky is 17 for 32 from the field and 9 of 10 at the foul line in those games.

ABOUT THE RETURNERS
• Portland returns six players from last year's roster, three of which redshirted.
• Mikah Ballew averaged 4.9 points as a true freshman in 31 games.
• Senior C Jermaine Ballisager Webb started eight games and appeared in 29 total. He averaged 4.3 points and 1.8 rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the field, including 9-of-13 from three-point range.
• RS-sophomore G Kelson Gebbers played 19 games and averaged 1.7 points and 1.1 rebounds.
• Carlin Briggs, NaVaughn Long and Preston Lee each utilized their redshirt season. Briggs is returning from a knee injury and working his way back into playing shape. Long made his debut against Willamette and recorded two rebounds with a pair of assists. Lee also debuted against the Bearcats and scored five points with a steal.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
• Portland's current roster features players from seven different countries including nine international student-athletes.
• The Australian pipeline continues to flow with four Pilots hailing from Down Under: Riley Parker, James O'Donnell, Carlin Briggs and Joel Foxwell.
• Throughout his five-year tenure with the Pilots, Legans has had nine different Aussies on the roster and 21 total international players from 12 different countries.

BUILDING A WINNING ROSTER
• The Portland coaching staff focused on building the 2025-26 roster with experienced players from winning programs and Portland's five transfers fit the bill.
• Junior transfers Garrett Nuckolls and Cameron Williams were the top two scorers for Trinity Valley JC, which won the JUCO Division I national title last year.
• Riley Parker was a starter and team captain for St. Francis, which won the Northeast Conference Tournament to reach the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
• Senior F Matúš Hronský spent three years with Duquesne and played in two NCAA Tournament games in 2024, while sophomore C James O'Donnell was a key contributor for San Francisco, who won 25 games and played in the NIT.
• Additionally, Portland's three true freshmen all played for high level clubs or have national team experience: Timo George prepped at IMG Academy in Florida, Joel Foxwell played with pros in the Australian NBL and NBL1, while Dante Censori-Hercules competed at Hodan Prep, which has multiple alums playing in the NBA.

STAFF UPDATE
• Portland added two new assistant coaches to staff this offseason in Mark Berokoff and Anthony Separovich, while Decclan Mclean was promoted to an assistant coach after serving two years as a graduate assistant.
• Berokoff brings vast experience to the bench with more than 400 career wins along with multiple state and national championships as a head coach. Berokoff most recently served four seasons as head coach at NAIA Oklahoma City University.  He led Randall University to three national titles and five national semifinals appearances in nine years (2012-21) at the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II level while serving as both head coach and athletic director.
• Separovich and Mclean are Australians that have helped solidified a strong pipeline for the Pilots Down Under. Separovich served as the AUSA Hoops Program and Recruiting Director from 2022-25. He was instrumental in recruiting, mentoring and guiding boys and girls players from Australia to earn college scholarships in the U.S. More than 500 student-athletes represented AUSA in AAU Tournaments across the U.S. in 2025. He helped place more than 100 student-athletes at U.S. colleges over the past three years, including a record 50 in 2024.

NATIONAL TEAM DUTY
• Four different players have been regular representatives on their home country's national teams either at the youth or senior level.
• Jermaine Ballisager Webb (Denmark) played on youth national teams from U15 on and represented the Senior National Team this Summer at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers. He averaged 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds over four games as Denmark secured a qualifying spot.
• Timo George (Netherlands) helped the Netherlands U20 National Team to a fourth-place finish at the 2024 FIBA EuroBasket where he averaged 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He also represented the Netherlands at the U18 European Championships in 2023.
• Matúš Hronský (Slovakia) represented Slovakia at the 2021 U20 European Championships where he averaged 15.8 points in five games. Hronský also played for Slovakia's Senior National Team at the 2021 World Cup where he scored eight points in four games.
• Dante Censori-Hercules (Canada) also trained this Summer with the U-19 National Team.

ABOUT KENT STATE
• The Golden Flashes (9-1) have won nine straight games after dropping an overtime heartbreaker to Troy to open the season. This will be Kent State's first true road game of the year.
• Kent State ranks No. 2 nationally in scoring (98.5) and sixth in three-pointers per game (12.0).
• Delrecco Gillespie leads five players averaging double figures at 19.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.
• Head coach Rob Senderoff is in his 15th season at the helm and has led KSU to two NCAA appearances and the NIT Quarterfinals a season ago.

PORTLAND-KENT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series: Kent State leads 2-0
H / A / N:  0-0 / 2-0 / 0-0
Streak: Kent State W2
Last: Kent State 76, Pilots 57 (Dec. 6, 2024 at Kent State)

WE'RE RIVERBOAT PILOTS, NOT AIRPLANE PILOTS!
• Though a 1935 student contest resulted in the nickname "Chinooks" (after the Native American tribe that inhabited the area, and the largest of the salmon species in the Willamette River), the "Pilots" was chosen by presidential fiat. From that day forward, The Bluff had a new mascot, and he was Wally Pilot.
• When the University changed its name from Columbia University (its earliest sports teams were known as the Cliff dwellers or the Columbias), to the University of Portland in 1935, the name and University had already begun to adapt a more "nautical motif," suitable for a campus site overlooking the Willamette River. At the same time, the Pilot athletic teams became associated with Wally (a stylized riverboat pilot), and the pilot's wheel became the logical logo.
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