Portland 48 - 68 Idaho
Final
  for this game

Portland-Idaho Preview

Dec 5, 2009 - 8:34 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Portland (5-2) at Idaho (4-2), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Regardless of the outcome of its next game, Portland will most likely drop out of the rankings when the new AP poll comes out.

The No. 25 Pilots' main concern, though, is avoiding a third straight loss when they visit Idaho on Sunday night.

Portland (5-2) moved into the rankings Monday for the first time in more than 50 years, but the Pilots suffered a big letdown when they fell 86-82 to Portland State on Wednesday.

Portland gained national recognition after a 27-point win over UCLA and a 61-56 victory over then-No. 22 Minnesota - both in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif. The Pilots lost in the finals of the tournament to then-No. 8 West Virginia.

"It's a grind," coach Eric Reveno said. "To be a really good basketball team, consistently, is just really hard."

Robin Smeulders scored 20 and had nine rebounds Wednesday while Nik Raivio added 17 points to surpass 1,000 for the Pilots, who shot 64.5 percent in the first half and led by six.

Portland State, though, was able to cool off Portland, which shot 32.3 percent in the second half. The Pilots were leading comfortably until the Vikings went on a 10-0 run before going ahead 85-82 with 22 seconds left.

"I don't like losing," Reveno told the Pilots' official Web site. "What satisfies me as a coach is playing our potential and tonight I'm not sure we did that."

Idaho (4-2) is looking to bounce back from a 95-93 loss to Cal State- Northridge on Thursday. The Vandals led 63-49 with 15:43 to play, but the Matadors came back to build an 85-77 advantage with 3:08 remaining.

Kashif Watson scored 21 while Mac Hopson had 19 points and six assists.

"We just didn't get it done, and that's the bottom line," coach Don Verlin told the Vandals' official Web site. "We didn't get the stops we needed to in the second half of the ball game. We score 93 points and lose - that's a tough one to swallow."

Portland beat Idaho 68-65 last season. Raivio scored 21 in the victory while Hopson had 21 for the Vandals, who had 20 turnovers. The Pilots have won four straight meetings, but Idaho leads the all-time series 12-10.

Despite not playing in the same conference, these schools meet again in Portland on Dec. 22.






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