LAS VEGAS - Moses Wood spent last season playing for UNLV but he never enjoyed a game in Las Vegas the way he did Friday night. The redshirt sophomore scored a career-high 28 points to fuel Portland’s 73-55 win over San Diego in second-round play at the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at Orleans Arena.
“It was so fun,” Wood said. “I love the city of Las Vegas. There was a great atmosphere tonight and I’m just happy I could play well and we got the W.”
With that W — the Pilots’ 18th of the season — they advance to Saturday night’s quarterfinal game against third-seeded Santa Clara. The Broncos (20-10) beat the Pilots, 102-89, last Saturday in the Bay Area.
“It’s all good,” Wood said. “We’re going to go and show we’re the better team tomorrow.”
The Pilots (18-13) have been a better team than almost anyone outside their locker room could have imagined. They have reached the WCC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in five seasons and their victory total is their highest since going 20-10 in 2010-11.
USD coach Sam Scholl said first-year coach Shantay Legans, who came to Portland from Eastern Washington, deserves a ton of credit. He remembers flipping on the video to scout the Pilots before their first meeting this year.
“It didn’t take very long to realize this is a whole new Portland. Shantay has a lot to do with that,” Scholl said. “They’re very talented, well-coached, very disciplined. A lot of guys who can score in a lot of ways. They’re challenging to guard.”
Certainly Wood has been a tough matchup for the Toreros (15-16). In three games against USD this season — two of them Portland wins — Wood has averaged 20.3 points.
He had just seven points at halftime Friday when he told Legans there were opportunities for him. “He said I think I’ve got a couple open corner shots, and he came and made some shots,” Legans said. That’s how I see him playing. He can do that constantly.”
In the second half, Wood scored 21 points, including three 3-pointers in addition to a four-point play, and an emphatic drive through the lane for a dunk.
Scholl says Wood has made improvements since early in the season. “He got through that first week in the league and a fire got ignited in him because he’s been playing lights-out ever since,” Scholl said. "He’s just a shot-maker, so skilled. Obviously can make really, really tough threes. Just an absolutely great player.”
Wood grew up in Reno before making college stops at Tulane and UNLV. He downplayed the support he got from his hometown on Friday night, suggesting, “I had a few friends, but not much.” Legans countered that notion. “Mo had a lot of people here, don’t let him fool you.”
Kristian Sjolund, who averaged 13.7 points over the final seven regular-season games, kept up his strong play with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Chika Nduka added 14 points and seven rebounds. And floor leader Tyler Robertson contributed 10 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
THE NUMBERS GAME: Portland has played with a short bench all season, but the rotation was even tighter Friday night because Mike Meadows sat out after “tweaking” his back in practice recently.
As a result, four starters played 39 minutes and the other was on the floor for 35. “I think we’re used to that,” said Robertson. “There’s not been many games in the second half of the conference where we haven’t played big minutes.”
“I think we’ll be well-prepared for tomorrow,” Legans said. “If you told me when I was a player I’d get to play 40 minutes in a tournament like this I’d be excited.”
Legans said Meadows was a little sore Friday but participated in shoot-around. “They’ve been working on him night and day,” Legans said. “He may get some time tomorrow. We won’t know until tomorrow.”
Meadows, who has started 25 games, averages 10.2 points and had a triple-double this season, which Robertson later duplicated.
A TOUGH ENDING FOR USD: “We had high expectations,” was the way Toreros coach Scholl characterized the season. USD rebuilt its roster with Division I transfers and was competitive all season until going 1-6 in the month of February.
They beat Pepperdine in their WCC opener on Thursday night, and trailed Portland just 55-51 after Marcellus Earlington made a 3-pointer with 7:32 to play. But Portland responded with a 16-2 run, including eight points from Wood, to snuff out the comeback try.
“They just took advantage of our mistakes. It sucks, but that’s what happened. We had some mental lapses and they capitalized,” said senior Terrell Brown-Soares, a grad transfer from Pitt who had 14 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. "Basketball is a game of runs — four-minute wars I would call it. You want to win those four minutes. That’s what they did.”
The Pilots’ surge actually lasted a bit longer than 5 minutes, and when it was over, the outcome was settled.
“We’re just upset it’s over. This has been a fun year,” Scholl said. “We started this journey on June 21. A lot of laughs and jokes and time invested in each other. That’s the cruel part of this honorable thing we get to be a part of it. There’s an end and it comes hard sometimes.”
STAT OF THE GAME: The Pilots were efficient against San Diego, assembling 18 assists against a season-low five turnovers.
QUOTE OF THE GAME: “We’ve just got to play a better game. They made 14 threes, scored 30 points with the big guy (Josip Vrankic) inside. They had 44 points in the paint. If they’re going to score 102, we’ve got to score 103.” — Portland coach Shantay Legans on what the Pilots have to do to reverse the outcome of their first meeting with Santa Clara.