Portland overcomes 30-point game by Seattle University's Charles Garcia in 98-81 victory

PORTLAND — Two games into the Cameron Dollar era at Seattle University and one thing is clear — Charles Garcia may indeed live up to his coach's billing that he could be the best NBA prospect playing college basketball in the state of Washington.

Most everything else, however, remains a work in progress for the Redhawks, who are playing a full Division I schedule for the first time since 1980.

That was evident as the Portland Pilots finally put the clamps on Garcia in the second half here Tuesday night to pull away late for a 98-81 win over Seattle U., which fell to 0-2.

Garcia had 21 of his game-high 30 points in the first half, making 10 of 17 shots for the night. But he was just 2 of 6 in the second half when he also lost seven of his nine turnovers as the veteran Pilots turned an entertaining game for 30 minutes into a comfortable win.

"He's special," said Portland coach Eric Reveno of Garcia, who originally signed with Washington before being denied admittance. "I told [my players] today that he's very, very good. Not sure he's great. But he's right there. And if the other parts, the non-offense parts of his game, if he can start picking those up, he could be great. He's pretty talented."

Garcia made 8 of 11 shots in the first half as he wowed the crowd, alternately pulling up to hit a three-pointer and then twice running the floor swiftly for fast-break dunks.

He helped Seattle U. pull to 44-42 at halftime. The Pilots have all five starters returning from a 19-win team last season, including four seniors, and are widely projected to be the top threat to Gonzaga's long hold on the West Coast Conference. The Pilots were picked second in the WCC preseason poll.

Portland put smaller players on Garcia in the second half in an attempt to take away his perimeter game and double-team him inside. The ploy worked as the Redhawks struggled to find scoring elsewhere.

"I felt like they were keying on me," said Garcia, who scored 18 in Seattle's season-opening 86-64 loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday. "I was rushing too much, trying to do too much." Of the dynamic first half, he said "that's me at my fullest potential."

Seattle U. last led 60-59 with 13:02 left before the Pilots went on a 9-0 run led by 6-foot-10 center Robin Smeulders, who finished with 24 points, and guard T.J. Campbell (21).

"We kind of kept scoring back and forth and then they eventually stopped us and slowed us down, and on the flip side, we couldn't stop them," said Dollar, a former Washington assistant. Portland made 17 of 29 shots in the second half while Seattle was 14 of 31.

The Redhawks trailed just 77-72 with just over five minutes left when Garcia missed a short shot under heavy duress, leading to a Jared Stohl three-pointer on the other end that keyed another Portland run and ended the suspense.

Aaron Broussard (12) was the only other Redhawk to score in double figures.

"We probably didn't do a good job of continuing to move on offense and we got a little sloppy and turned it over," Dollar said of a Seattle team that had 22 total turnovers. "I've got to do a better job of putting those guys in better spots."

The Redhawks will play their first home game of the season Thursday at KeyArena, hosting Fresno State in the Elgin Baylor Classic at 7:10 p.m.

Box score

SEATTLE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Boxley	30	3-4	2-2	0-3	2	5	9
Gilmore	25	3-8	0-0	5-6	0	2	6
Garcia	35	10-17	9-14	3-8	3	4	30
Broussard	30	6-12	0-0	2-4	0	0	12
Burrell	22	4-6	1-2	0-1	2	3	9
Lever	13	3-4	0-0	0-2	0	3	7
Olson	13	0-4	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Gweth	26	2-6	3-3	3-4	5	4	8
Jones	6	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	4	0
	200	31-62	15-21	16-31	12	26	81

Percentages: FG .500, FT .714. Three-point goals: 4-15, .267 (Gweth 1-2, Lever 1-2, Boxley 1-2, Garcia 1-3, Jones 0-1, Broussard 0-2, Olson 0-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 2 (Garcia, Boxley). Turnovers: 22 (Garcia 9, Gweth 3, Gilmore 3, Lever 2, Boxley 2, Broussard, Burrell, Olson). Steals: 6 (Olson 2, Lever 2, Burrell, Boxley).

PORTLAND
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Niedermyr	26	4-8	0-0	1-2	0	5	9
Smeulders	29	9-12	6-6	2-4	0	5	24
Knutson	14	1-4	0-0	3-3	0	3	2
Raivio	33	6-12	3-6	4-10	2	2	17
Campbell	26	5-8	11-14	0-0	11	2	21
Waterford	3	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Ito	13	0-0	2-2	0-2	5	0	2
Stohl	20	5-7	0-0	0-1	0	0	14
Mitrovic	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Sikma	28	3-5	3-3	2-7	1	2	9
Hannibal	5	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
	200	33-60	25-31	13-30	19	20	98

Percentages: FG .550, FT .806. Three-point goals: 7-16, .438 (Stohl 4-6, Raivio 2-4, Niedermeyer 1-4, Campbell 0-1, Waterford 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 2 (Sikma, Smeulders). Turnovers: 16 (Raivio 4, Waterford 2, Smeulders 2, Campbell 2, Knutson 2, Niedermeyer 2, Hannibal, Stohl). Steals: 7 (Smeulders 2, Campbell 2, Sikma 2, Knutson).

Seattle	42	39	—	81
Portland	44	54	—	98

Attendance: 1,336. Officials: Dick Cartmell, Ken Ditty, Tony Padilla.