Men's Basketball Flies By Pilots 71-59
2/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2003
Box Score
Portland, OR - Frederic Adjiwanou notched his second career double-double to lead the Saint Mary's men's basketball team to a 71-59 victory over the Portland Pilots in a West Coast Conference game on Saturday night from the Chiles Center. Adjiwanou scored a career-high 20 points and matched his career-high with 10 rebounds in the win. Saint Mary's snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 12-11 overall and 5-5 in WCC action. The Pilots fall to 9-14 overall and 2-9 in conference play.
Adjiwanou finished 6-for-8 from the floor and hit on 8-of-11 attempts from the foul line. He scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, after scoring 13 straight points for SMC in the first half. He led four Gaels in double figures as Jonathan Sanders topped his career-high with 14 points. Sanders was 4-for-6 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line en route to a career-high for the second straight night. Daniel Kickert finished with 12 points and Ross Benson added 10 points before leaving the game with a sprained right knee.
After Portland opened a 7-2 lead early in the game, Saint Mary's responded to even the score at 12-12 following six straight points by Adjiwanou. Adjiwanou would go on to score 13 straight points for SMC as the Gaels took a 19-15 lead with 9:21 left in the half. Saint Mary's continued to extend its first half lead to 11 points (28-17) with 6:30 remaining until halftime. Portland cut the SMC lead by five points at halftime, as the Gaels led 35-29 at the intermission.
Saint Mary's opened the second half with an 10-2 run to take a 14-point (45-31) with 13:32 left to play. The Gaels took its largest lead of the game at 51-36 with 10:32 following a long jumper by Jonathan Sanders. The Pilots got as close as 10 points twice in the second half, the last time when Frandsen hit a three with four minutes left to play.
Portland would cut the lead to single digits (60-51) on a free three by Eugene Jeter with 3:20 left to play. The Pilots would get as close as 60-53 when Donald Wilson hit a lay in with 2:40 remaining and again when Adam Quick hit two free throws to pull the Pilots within 62-55 with 2:12 on the clock. Saint Mary's would hit free throws down the stretch to pull out the 12-point victory.
As a team the Gaels shot 50 percent from the floor after hitting 24-of-48 shots from the floor. SMC struggled from the three-point arc, hitting just 3-of-16 attempts from the floor. The Gaels held the advantage on the boards as the outrebounded the Pilots 33-23.
Saint Mary's will return to action on Friday, February 21 when they battle San Diego. The game will tip-off at 7:05 PM at McKeon Pavilion. In the first meeting of the season between SMC and San Diego, the Toreros pulled out a 76-69 victory on February 5.
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