Sterling Carter (Seattle, Wash.) hit four three-pointers, three of them early in the second half, to score a team-leading 16 points, while Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots. Alex Jones (Phoenix, Ariz.) contributed seven points, four rebounds, and two steals, and Garrett Lever (Phoenix, Ariz.) earned six points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Portland (17-7) scored the first ten points of the game and ran out to a 19-4 advantage seven minutes into the contest. Broussard scored nine straight Seattle U points to bring the deficit back into single digits, but three easy baskets by the Pilots extended Portland's lead back to 12 at 27-15.
An 8-0 Redhawk scoring run cut the Pilot lead to four at 27-23 with 3:28 left in the first half, but Jared Stohl hit a three-pointer and Eric Waterford and Luke Sikma followed with layups to give Portland a 34-26 lead at halftime. Carter's fourth three-pointer of the contest once again brought Seattle U to within four at 39-35 early in the second half, but back-to-back long distance baskets by Nemanja Mitrovic and Stohl helped extend the Pilots' lead back to 12 at 47-35.
Fredrick Wilson (Seattle, Wash.) hit a three-pointer as Seattle U cut into the Pilot lead one more time, coming within seven at 47-40 with 13:48 remaining in the second half. However, the combination of a five-minute Redhawk scoring drought and timely baskets by Portland allowed the visitors to pull away with the victory.
Mitrovic led all players with 20 points, with Stohl scoring 16 points and Sikma contributing 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a blocked shot. As a team, Portland shot 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the field, including 9-of-21 from behind the three-point line, and won the rebounding battle, 38-29.
Seattle U shot just 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field, including 7-of-21 from behind the three-point line, and 4-of-8 from the free throw line. The Redhawks committed 21 turnovers during the evening, but did force Portland into a season-high 22 turnovers.
"It was a tough night on the offensive end, and even when we got stops, we couldn't consistently get anything going offensively," head coach Cameron Dollar said. "Through a frustrating night, my guys continued to try to give me everything they had, so I can't fault their effort. We will go back to the lab and try to find ways to get some easy baskets."
A crowd of 6,111 came in part to watch the retirement of the number 32 in honor of Tom Workman, one of Seattle U's great players from the mid-1960s. Workman was joined by his family and teammates from both Bishop Blanchet High School and Seattle University, expressing gratitude for the honor during a halftime ceremony.
Seattle University (8-15) continues the three-game homestand Wednesday, Feb. 9, against Utah Valley University beginning at 7:10 p.m. at KeyArena. Tickets for all remaining Seattle U home games are available at Ticketmaster.com, at Fred Meyer locations, and at the KeyArena box office.