By Kyle Cape-Lindelin
The Portland Pilots capped off their regular season in style with wins at home against University of San Francisco, Santa Clara and Lewis & Clark College. At the same time, the University honored five seniors: Taishi Ito, Ethan Niedermeyer, Robin Smeulders, Nik Raivio and T.J. Campbell .
This was head men's basketball coach Eric Reveno's first recruiting class and they rewarded him with a 20-win season, the first since 1994-95.
"They changed the culture. I appreciate how they bought into what we were telling them and now we have momentum headed into next season with a new class and a winning mentality already in place," said Reveno.
The 20-win season was enough to lock up third place in the WCC tournament in Las Vegas on March 6-9. The Pilots received a first round-bye, as they wait to face off against the winner of the San Diego versus Santa Clara matchup on Saturday at 8:30 p.m..
UP took on the USF Dons last Thursday, capturing the victory 70-59 despite lead point-guard Campbell scoring only six points as the Dons focused their defensive game plan on him. Portland came out in the second half raining 3-pointers on the Dons, including six from senior Jared Stohl, who led the team with 22 points while also grabbing four rebounds. Stohl also moved up to the 10th spot on the WCC career 3-pointers list with 240, while leading the nation in 3-point percentage, shooting 48.7 percent
Sophomore Nemanja Mitrovic was huge off the bench, scoring a career-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds, while hitting five 3-pointers all in the second half. Senior Robin Smeulders also contributed 13 points and hauled in five rebounds.
Every time USF tried to make a run at UP's lead, Mitrovic would hit a jumper that would put it down quickly, including eight straight points starting from the five-minute mark.
The Pilots tightened up their defense in the second-half holding USF scoreless over the final three minutes allowing the Pilots to secure the win 70-59.
Despite key starters Campbell, Knutson and Niedermeyer being unable to get their offense going, the team was able to depend on Mitrovic's hot hand to get them the victory.
"I felt good, but I got to give all the credit to T.J. (Campbell), he's the one getting us open looks and I just stepped up to the opportunity," said Mitrovic.
The Pilots also secured a win against Santa Clara last Saturday 68-55 following a 20 point, five assists and five steals effort from Campbell. Smeulders also scoring 17 points.
Santa Clara came out with a tough defensive trap while benefitting from poor Pilot shooting to keep the game tied 30-30 at halftime. Campbell came alive in the second half, carrying UP's offense and electrifying the defense with 17 points, four assists and four steals in the second half.
"For us it starts with stops, they create excitement on offense which also gets the crowd fired up and T.J. (Campbell) really led the way for us in the second-half," Reveno said.
The Pilots forced Santa Clara to foul and took full advantage as Campbell went 8-8 at the line and Smeulders went 9-12 while working the post. The win tied the school record of 10 WCC wins, which was set back in the 1994-1995 season.
"Even though this is a milestone, I tell the seniors that we're going to have better teams than this one in the near future and they're the reason for it because they've brought us to that level," Reveno said.
Even though the Pilots didn't play their best against inferior opponents, Reveno will take victories any way he can get them.
"At this point of the season, it's dangerous because opponents aren't looking for stats and just play making you work for it, so I'm just happy about the results."
The Pilots also took down Lewis & Clark on Tuesday 72-49, which allowed much needed rest and preparation for the WCC Tournament. Smeulders led the team with 12 points and nine rebounds which included him scoring his 1000th career point.
Campbell also had a solid all-around game with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in his final Chiles Center appearance. The Pilots jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead to start the game and relied heavily on their bench to keep the lead 36-25 at halftime.
Lewis and Clark kept fighting and got as close as 51-43 with nine minutes left until UP locked down defensively and held them to only two points over the next six minutes.
Reveno pulled his seniors with two minutes left, which garnered them a standing ovation at their last game at the Chiles Center as the Pilots won 72-49.
As the regular season wraps up, all the Pilots can hope for is that they're ready to go when the WCC Tournament starts up.
"Everyone needs to be dialed in and focused for us to win this championship," Reveno said on the upcoming WCC Tournament.
