Portland’s run in the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship ended Saturday with an 82-65 loss to San Francisco at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Pilots finished their season with a 15-19 record, while the Dons moved on to face Oregon State in the tournament quarterfinals.
Freshman Joel Foxwell led Portland with 16 points and six assists. Senior Jermaine Ballisager Webb contributed 11 points. For San Francisco, David Fuchs recorded a double-double, scoring 23 points and collecting 16 rebounds.
Portland held a slim lead for much of the first half and went up by six before San Francisco tied the game after two consecutive three-pointers from Ryan Beasley. A foul during this sequence gave the Dons a five-point possession, resulting in a tie at halftime, 29-29. By intermission, Fuchs had already tallied 15 points and eight rebounds.
The second half saw four ties and multiple lead changes until San Francisco took control with a decisive 26-5 run. Four different Dons players made three-pointers during that stretch, pushing their lead to 70-49 with just under six minutes left. Portland responded with an eight-point run but was unable to close the gap further.
Portland shot nearly 46 percent from the field compared to San Francisco’s roughly 43 percent. However, the Dons secured more offensive rebounds (17) and forced more turnovers (16) than Portland. San Francisco also had an advantage at the free throw line, making 19 out of 28 attempts while Portland converted seven of ten.
Foxwell ended his season ranked ninth on Portland’s single-season scoring list with 529 points—the most ever by a freshman at the university—and set a new school record for assists in a season (221). Ballisager Webb averaged nearly 15 points per game during the tournament and reached double figures in all three games played. He also recorded his first career double-double earlier in the tournament against Washington State.
Graduate student Sam Noland scored for Portland in the final seconds of Saturday’s game. Noland joined the roster midseason after previously serving as staff due to injuries within the team and appeared in Portland’s last thirteen games.
For fans interested in attending future home events or supporting University of Portland Athletics through donations, information is available at PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.
