Victory Over Portland Fifth in a Row for USD

The University of San Diego came from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Portland, 71-66, in a West Coast Conference men’s basketball game Saturday in front of 2,207 at the Chiles Center.

With its fifth victory in a row and ninth in 12 games, USD remained tied for second in the WCC with Pepperdine, a 92-67 winner over San Francisco Saturday.

The Toreros are 12-10 and 7-3 after sweeping games in the Northwest--at Gonzaga and Portland--for the first time in Coach Hank Egan’s six years at USD. The Toreros defeated Gonzaga, 73-65, Thursday night. Portland fell to 7-16 and 4-6.

USD, which led, 9-0 and 11-2, early, fell behind for the first time at the end of the first half, 36-35. In the second half, Portland took its biggest lead, 51-41, with 12:15 remaining.

The Toreros eventually tied it, 59-59, on Pat Holbert’s three-pointer with 6:19 left. With USD holding a 69-66 lead with 36 seconds left, Wayman Strickland made both ends of a one-and-one to end the scoring.

“This was our best win of the season,” Egan said. “They busted out to a big lead in the second half, and we just hung in. We stayed together and didn’t panic.”

Holbert led USD with a career-high 24 points, and Anthony Thomas added 14 off the bench. Steve Hutchinson had career highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds for Portland.

Holbert, who entered the week second nationally in three-point accuracy, was three for seven from that range.