Strickland Gets 27 to Lead the Toreros : College basketball: USD’s 79-76 victory over Portland snaps a seven-game losing streak. Strickland matches career high on 11-for-12 shooting.

The University of San Diego’s annual West Coast Conference trip to the Northwest brings out the best in guard Wayman Strickland.

Strickland on Saturday matched his career high--attained last season at Gonzaga--by scoring 27 points to spark the Toreros to a 79-76 victory over the University of Portland. The triumph snapped a seven-game losing streak and moved USD (12-13, 4-8) into sole possession of sixth place in the WCC.

Strickland, who had 25 points in a 99-92 victory last season at Portland, had 18 of his points in the second half, including 11 of his team’s points consecutively.

“I like this gym. Maybe I should have gone to Portland,” said Strickland, who was 11 for 12 from the field. “I got a lot of points off of penetration and off of screens. This team has been in a struggle, but it’s been playing hard, and now we can just go back and get ready for next week’s games.”

Part of that preparation, perhaps, could include the offensive machinations that kept Portland (10-15, 3-9) at bay.

After the Toreros shot 58% from the field in the first half en route to a 39-37 lead, Strickland took over. Kelvin Woods, who along with Michael Brown finished with 14 points, hit a layup for a 41-37 edge before Strickland scored USD’s next 11 points.

But Portland whittled away after the Toreros took a 47-39 lead, finally tying the game at 66 with 6:10 remaining on a three-point play by Grant Tracy, who led the Pilots with 22 points.

A free throw by USD’s Reed Watson broke the tie. Then Strickland connected on a three-point shot from the right baseline for a 70-66 lead. He added two free throws for a five-point lead, and the Toreros protected their lead by making their last seven free throws, including four by guard Geoff Probst.

“This was more a gut check than anything,” said USD Coach Hank Egan, whose team’s last victory came Jan. 23 against the Pilots in San Diego.

“They’ve played hard, and I’ve wracked my brain to come up with some answer, and the answer was just to keep playing hard. The last time we won was with this lineup. And during that streak, we battled the flu a lot.”

USD started Probst and Brown at guard, Woods and Gylan Dottin at forward and Brooks Barnhard at center. In the last month, Probst, Barnhard, Woods each have had flu problems.

Portland’s Peter McKelvey added 19 points, including five of 11 from three-point range. He has 98 three-pointers on the season; the league record is 126.