USD SEASON ENDS ON TREY BARRAGE

The University of San Diego men’s basketball season ended under an avalanche of Portland Pilots 3-pointers Thursday evening in the first round of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

USD (11-20) finished coach Steve Lavin’s first season with a 92-74 loss to a Portland team that made a WCC tournament record 19 made 3-balls on a record 36 attempts (52.8 percent).

The No. 8 seed Pilots (1418) advanced to face No. 5 seed BYU in today’s second round.

USD finishes the season on a six-game losing streak and lost eight of the final nine overall.

Several Toreros played their final college game, including senior guards Marcellus Earlington (15 points, eight rebounds), Jase Townsend (10 points) and Eric Williams Jr. (15 points) and forward Nic Lynch (four points).

Sophomore guard Deuce Turner finished with 12 points.

USD shot a solid 45 percent, finished with a 36-10 edge in bench scoring, a 28-8 advantage in points in the paint and a 19-8 edge in points off turnovers but made 7 of 28 from 3-point range and 13 of 22 from the free throw line.

All five Portland starters scored in double figures, led by guard Tyler Robertson’s 23 points with five made 3pointers to go with 11 rebounds and six assists.

Most impressively, Portland’s shooting prowess wasn’t just a product of coming down and jacking up random shots as the team’s 25 made field goals came off 19 assists.

Good ball movement combined with dribble penetration created open looks and time after time, a Pilot was there to cash in and make the shot.

The Portland lead reached a peak of 18 when Robertson knocked down a 3-ball to tie the WCC with 5:38 to play.

Portland jumped out to an early 18-12 lead with those 18 points coming on six made 3-pointers.

In fact, the Pilots didn’t score on a non-3 until Moses Wood (19 points) made a pair of free throws with 5:30 remaining in the half.

Meanwhile, the Toreros hung around and came back by using some zone pressure defense while steadily chipping away on offense.

Short jumpers by Townsend on consecutive possessions gave the Toreros their first lead at 22-21 at 8:04 and they shot a crisp 48.1 percent from the field while forcing eight Portland turnovers to go into halftime tied at 35.

USD led 41-39 on a layup by freshman guard Neel Beniwal at 17:29 of the second half but the Pilots answered with Paul Gorosito making one of his five 3pointers and never trailed again.

It was Gorosito who made the record-breaking 3ball, this one on a stepback with 1:21 remaining. With the ball still in the air, the Portland bench rose in unison, arms raised.

It dropped. Portland won all three meetings between the teams this season.