Men’s basketball handed the No. 6 Gonzaga Bulldogs a stunning first-conference loss of the season, and only their second loss overall, in a 87-80 victory on Feb. 4.
The victory is Portland’s first Top 10 win in school history and first win over a ranked opponent since their last victory over Gonzaga in 2014.
The Pilots were led by freshman point guard Joel Foxwell, who tied a season high of 27 points on 11-18 field goal shooting and dished eight assists. Senior center Jermaine Ballisager Webb also played a key role, contributing 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
“[Gonzaga has] been the powerhouse for God knows how many years, so to come in here and beat them for the last time they’re going to play in Chiles, it’s an unreal feeling,” Foxwell said.
The victory offers a moment of relief following the team’s recent struggles according to head coach Shantay Legans.
“We had a terrible week last week, and [the team] came out and played really hard, so you just have to be happy for them [and] proud for them,” Legans said. “The students came out, so it was a fun game all around.”
Gonzaga entered the game with the highest-scoring offense in the West Coast Conference (WCC), as well as a shutdown defense, but Portland held them to 40% shooting from the field while the Pilots shot an efficient 59.3%.
“A lot of things had to go our way tonight, and they did,” Legans said. “We made shots, they missed shots and we didn’t turn the ball over a lot so we did a really good job. Foxwell did great with handling the pressure, and other guys stepped up and made big plays.”
While Portland controlled the match, leading by as much as 15 points, Gonzaga was never put away. The Bulldogs closed the gap to four points with 30 seconds remaining, but the late-game rally was extinguished with a commanding fastbreak slam by sophomore forward James O’Donnell. O’Donnell was second on the squad in scoring with 16 points, shooting 6-8 from the field.
With the victory, the Pilots improve to 11-14 overall with a 4-8 WCC record. They’ll return to the Chiles Center on Feb. 7 to face the Seattle Redhawks, and will face Gonzaga for the last time as WCC rivals in Spokane, Washington on Feb. 25.
Kaeden Souki is the Sports Editor at The Beacon, he can be reached at souki28@up.edu.
