Portland turns tables on Idaho
PORTLAND – Jared Stohl scored 30 points on a school-record 10 3-pointers to lead the Portland Pilots to an 82-52 non-conference men’s basketball victory over the Idaho Vandals on Tuesday night.
The victory represented a 50-point turnaround for the Pilots (7-4), who earlier in the season lost a 20-point decision on the Vandals’ home court. That loss helped knock Portland out of the AP Top 25.
Stohl finished Tuesday’s game 10 of 15 from the 3-point line. He had only two shots from inside the line and missed both. He also wound up with career highs in rebounds (six) and steals (three).
Stohl fell three points short of a career high in points, which came last year against San Francisco, when he set the previous school record with nine 3-pointers.
Thanks largely to Stohl’s effort, the Pilots also set a team and a Chiles Center record with 16 3s.
Idaho never led and managed only one tie, at 2-2. After that, the Pilots quickly put some distance between themselves and the visitors. Nine minutes into the contest, Portland had a 22-5 lead after a pair of 3s by Nik Raivio and one each by Stohl and Ethan Niedermeyer.
Portland led 39-23 at halftime after Stohl hit 4 of 7 3s for a team-high 12 points.
Stohl was even hotter to start the second half, hitting four more 3s in the first 61/2 minutes as the Pilots opened a 54-33 lead. That left Stohl one 3-pointer shy of his school record, but it took him another eight minutes to tie the mark as Idaho tried to clamp down on defense.
Stohl broke the record at the 3:28 mark, which gave Portland a 73-50 lead. He left the game with 1:33 to play after missing one more 3-point attempt.
“You’ve got to give credit to them (Portland),” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “They shot the ball very well tonight and did a lot of very good things.”
The Vandals never settled in on offense and turned it over 19 times, while tallying just nine assists. The result was a season-lows in points and in field-goal shooting, at 19 of 49 (.388). It was also the first game this season in which Idaho never led.
Idaho held an advantage in free-throw attempts, but the Vandals hit just 12 of their 29 attempts for a .414 percentage.
“It’s like playing on the road in the WAC,” Verlin said. “If you come into someone’s house and you make a bunch of mistakes and you let a guy get off, you’re going to get your butts kicked and tonight, we got beat by 30.”
Senior guard Mac Hopson led Idaho (6-4) with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but he was the only Vandal to break double-digit points. Marvin Jefferson had a team-leading eight rebounds.
“I’m disappointed in our effort tonight,” Verlin said. “I’m a little bit at a loss, because I felt like our 10 days in between (this game and the team’s last game) were very good days. I thought we practiced well. I thought we were focused and I thought we were ready to play tonight.”
Portland 82, Idaho 52
Idaho (6-4)—Toledo 2-3 1-4 5, Jefferson 3-7 3-6 9, Hopson 5-9 4-7 15, Johnson 1-8 1-2 4, Watson 2-5 2-2 6, Stern 0-0 0-2 0, Ledbetter 0-2 1-5 1, Henderson 3-8 0-0 6, de Souza 0-1 0-0 0, Barone 3-6 0-1 6, Blackstock 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 12-29 52.
Portland (7-4)—Niedermeyer 1-3 0-0 3, Smeulders 5-11 3-4 13, Knutson 0-0 2-2 2, Raivio 5-18 1-3 14, Campbell 2-4 4-5 9, Ito 1-2 0-0 3, Mivshek 0-0 0-0 0, Stohl 10-17 0-0 30, Mitrovic 0-1 0-0 0, Sikma 3-3 0-0 6, Hannibal 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 27-59 12-16 82. Halftime—Portland 39-23. 3-Point Goals—Idaho 2-11 (Hopson 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Ledbetter 0-1, Henderson 0-1, de Souza 0-1), Portland 16-29 (Stohl 10-15, Raivio 3-6, Campbell 1-2, Ito 1-2, Niedermeyer 1-3, Mitrovic 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Idaho 33 (Jefferson 8), Portland 39 (Smeulders 13). Assists—Idaho 9 (Hopson 3), Portland 18 (Sikma 7). Total Fouls—Idaho 19, Portland 23. A—1,746.