Portland and Saint Mary’s Sqaure Off in a Potential Season Saving Game
By Josh Horton
Saint Mary’s Gaels (10-4, 1-1) at Portland Pilots (9-6, 1-2)
Date: Saturday, January 4th, 2014
Location: Chiles Center, Portland, Ore.
Time: 7:00 p.m. PST
TV: CSN Bay Area, ROOT Sports NW & RM, TheW.tv
Radio: Saint Mary’s – http://www.smcgaels.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=12536&db_oem_id=21400
Portland –
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/up.portal?mode=link&eventId=133380&broadcastType=audio or 1080 AM (Portland)
LiveStats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=port
Last Season: Saint Mary’s Beat Portland in both matchups by 20+ points
PROJECTED STARTERS
Portland
Saint Mary’s
Stephen Holt
This game could make or break the season for both the Portland Pilots (9-6, 1-2) and the Saint Mary’s Gaels (10-4, 1-1).
With a majority of their starting lineup returning from last season, the Pilots looked poised to make a serious push back into the top half of the WCC. The Pilots came into conference play with a South Point Holiday Hoops Classic Championship and a boatload of confidence. However, back-to-back losses to San Francisco and Santa Clara pulled the Pilots and its faithful fan base back down to earth. The Pilots bounced back with a win against newcomer Pacific, and now a win versus Saint Mary’s would put the Pilots right back in the mix for the top five spots in the conference.
Saint Mary’s finds itself in a slightly different solution. Much like Portland, the Gaels have struggled recently; SMC has lost 4 out of its last 5 contests. Unlike the Pilots, Saint Mary’s is fresh-off a shellacking from inner-conference rival Gonzaga. The Gaels – who are without head coach Randy Bennett – need to beat Eric Reveno and the Pilots in order to keep the Gaels from swerving off the proverbial West Coast Conference road.
Keys to the Game
Portland
Go Inside, again and again and again and again (you get the idea): Saint Mary’s is a solid defensive squad and do not give a lot of open looks out on the perimeter. Portland cannot settle for outside jumpers in this game if they want to stand a chance in this matchup.
Besides, their front-court is their strong suit. Ryan Nicholas and Thomas van der Mars are averaging 28.3 points and 17.3 rebounds during conference play.
Saint Mary’s
Use the stars: Against Gonzaga, Stephen Holt and Brad Waldow played poorly. They combined for only 14 points and 4 rebounds a failed to make the necessary impact in order to knock off the Zags.
In this game, look for the Gaels to lean on their two stars, because how well they play could be a deciding factor between a win and a loss for the Gaels.
Matchup of the Game
The frontcourts: Portland’s and Saint Mary’s strengths are their front-courts. Both are experienced and are the center of both teams offensive and defensive success. Brad Waldow will be matched up with Thomas van der Mars, who is about two inches taller than Waldow but not as beefy. Waldow could overpower the Dutch center but alternatively van der Mars height could be too much for Waldow.
At the power forward position, Ryan Nicholas will throw down with SMC’s Beau Levesque. Nicholas, who is nicknamed “Rhino”, will have a challenge guarding the versatile Leveque. There is a good chance that the Saint Mary’s coaching staff will have Levesque play more outon the perimeter in order to take Nicholas away from the basket, thus giving him less opportunities to grab offensive rebounds.
Prediction
The panic button should still not be pressed on the Gaels season just quite yet. They still have a ton of talent, they just came out flat in their last 4 losses. Portland will give them a test, but in the end Saint Mary’s talent will prevail. Saint Mary’s 77, Portland 70. ,