Toreros Defeat Pilots : Basketball: Wayman Strickland scores a career-high 27 points as league-leading USD wins its fifth in a row.

Halfway through the second half Thursday night, the University of San Diego appeared to be on its way to routing the University of Portland on its home court.

The Toreros nearly let their 19-point lead get away but fended off the Pilots, 99-92, in West Coast Conference basketball at the Chiles Center.

San Diego, the preseason WCC favorites, stretched its winning streak to five games--its second five-game winning streak of the season--and improved to 12-6 overall and 5-1 in the conference.

Junior point guard Wayman Strickland had his best collegiate game, scoring 27 points, but even he couldn’t stop the Pilots’ surprising momentum in the second half which turned a blowout into a crowd teaser.

The Pilots were getting beaten on offense and defense by the quicker Toreros before rallying in the waning minutes. Portland came within four points twice in the last four minutes, including 91-87 with 2:52 remaining.

San Diego responded with the attacking style that helped build its lead. Strickland hit a jumper to put the Toreros up by six and, after the Pilots hit a free throw, guard Michael Brown hit a spinning jumper to put the Toreros up by seven with one minute left.

The Pilots missed some three-point shots in the final minute and never mounted another serious rally.

Strickland tied his career high of 21 points in the first half. He scored 10 of the team’s first 12 points and hit four three-pointers in the first half, which ended with San Diego ahead, 53-43.

When he wanted, Strickland could use his quickness to get by Portland guards Erik Spoelstra and Kevin Mason, as did most of the Toreros with their defenders.

“I was being real aggressive offensively,” said Strickland, whose previous career high was 21 points as a freshman against Loyola Marymount. “I just got hot. They gave me a lot of room to shoot.”

Brown got hot in the second half, scoring 13 of his 18 points.

“We were a little too patient down the stretch and Coach (Hank) Egan told us to attack,” Brown said.

The Toreros appeared on their way to a 20-point victory midway through the second half, leading 84-67 with 10:01 remaining. San Diego was almost certain to break 100 points for the second time this season at the pace it was playing.

Spoelstra scored nine points as the Pilots seized the momentum with an 18-5 spurt, including an 11-0 run, and the Toreros looked tired.

“We just stalled out toward the end,” Egan said. “I don’t know why, maybe we were tired.”

Portland coach Larry Steele conceded after the game that his team was overmatched physically, which forced the Pilots to work for shots against the quicker Toreros.

“They had a little too much firepower for us,” said Steele, whose team fell to 2-3 in conference and 4-14 overall. “You can beat this team if you play minutes one through 40 but we just took too long to get started.”

The Toreros had plenty of energy in the first half, running to a 12-3 lead, behind Strickland.

When Egan put his starters on the bench, including Strickland, the Pilots came back, dissecting the San Diego defense for layups. Eight of Portland’s first 13 scores from the field came via layups.

Portland made a 9-2 run to tie the score 27-27 on Mike Mueller’s three-point play with 7:40 left in the half. Egan responded by putting his starters back on the floor.

Strickland ignited a sudden 8-0 run with a three-pointer to push the Toreros into the lead. He made another steal and layup to put San Diego ahead by 10, 44-34.

The Toreros later went ahead by 12 and led 53-43 at when Michael Brown hit an off-balance jump shot with two seconds remaining.

Eleven players scored in double figures. San Diego’s Anthony Thomas failed to score at least 20 points for the first time in five games but finished with 15 points. Kelvin Woods scored 13 points and Dondi Bell added 10 points for the Toreros.

David Roth and Matt Houle each scored 16 points for the Pilots while Ron Deaton, Dan Gray and Mike Mueller scored 14 points each and Spoelstra added 11 points.