USD Shows Portland No Mercy : College basketball: Beat-up Pilots serves as fodder for USD’s biggest rout of the season.

University of Portland Coach Larry Steele probably wished his old friend and former Portland Trail Blazer teammate Bill Walton--bad feet and all--was in uniform Saturday night for the Pilots rather than broadcasting the game.

Steele could have used Walton in the West Coast Conference game against the University of San Diego. Heck, Steele could have used himself.

Maybe he should have. After all, Steele suited up and practiced on Friday because the Pilots are down to nine healthy players.

On Saturday, his battered and tattered team took its worst beating of the season, 108-70, at the hands of USD.

The Toreros (14-7, 7-2) were merciless. They did everything right, played perhaps their best game all season and won for the seventh time in eight games, remaining a half-game behind first-place Pepperdine in the WCC.

It was a night of season highs for the home team in front of 2,350 in the USD Sports Center.

The Toreros’ scoring output represented a season high, and so did the 38-point margin of victory. Also, USD made 92.3% (12 of 13) of its free throws and turned the ball over only 10 times.

In taking a 55-37 halftime lead, USD eclipsed its season-high first-half scoring mark by two; the previous high also came against Portland, last week in a 99-92 Torero victory.

USD shot 54% in the half, including six of eight from three-point range. The Toreros also made 11 of 12 free throws, outrebounded the Pilots, 15-11, and had just seven turnovers to Portland’s 14.

Point guard Wayman Strickland, who had a career-high 27 points against Portland last week, had 18 at the half on six-of-seven shooting, including three of three from three-point land.

For the game, Strickland had a game-high 25 points, made nine of 11 shots, all four three-point attempts and all three foul shots.

Forward Anthony Thomas added 14 points, guard Pat Holbert 12, guard Michael Brown 11 and center Dondi Bell 10.

And while we’re at it, why not mention Neal Meyer, a seldom-used reserve guard? Meyer chipped in with seven points and two rebounds in the last four minutes of the game as Torero Coach Hank Egan emptied his bench.

Get the feeling it was one of those nights?

“We just kind of exploded,” Egan explained.

Indeed.

Using an 11-0 run, USD took a 34-15 lead with 8:17 left in the first half. There was little doubt from that point as to the eventual winner.

It was a drastically marked difference from Thursday night, when the Toreros blew an early 10-point lead and lost to Gonzaga, 70-64. In that one, Egan cited the Toreros’ lack of intensity.

Saturday against Portland (4-17, 2-6), he praised it.

“We played much better and much more intense than we did the other night,” Egan said. “We’re not going to win every time, but playing intensely is our best chance of winning. We’re not the kind of team that can sit around and wait. We’ve got to force things.”

And so they forced the pace, got it into their comfort zone--up tempo. All that offense, and what do the players talk about after the game?

You got it: Defense.

“It was all keyed by our defense,” Strickland said. “Tonight we played good defense, and we were able to sustain it throughout the game. We play well when we’re going after it on defense.”

And the Pilots?

Well, let’s just say they’re a team with one kind of luck this year . . . bad.

Already they’ve lost four players for the season with injuries. Three others were nursing injuries Saturday, and two key performers--leading scorer David Roth and starting center Dan Gray--were limited in their playing time because of breaking team rules Thursday after a 95-61 loss at Santa Clara.

They would have been sent home, Steele said before the game, but he couldn’t afford not having them. Erik Spoelstra led the Pilots with 19 points, and freshman Mike Mueller, starting his first game, had 17 points and eight rebounds.