Portland rallies from 18 down to beat CSU Northridge 80-77
LOS ANGELES (AP) — JoJo Walker had 23 points and seven assists and made 6 of 8 3-point attempts on Saturday night, and Portland rallied to beat CSU Northridge 80-77.
The Pilots (2-2) never led for nearly the first 35 minutes, trailing by as much as 18 early in the second half. Walker scored 11 during a 22-5 run that gave Portland its first lead at 69-67 with 5:09 left in the game. The Pilots would not trail again.
Portland pushed the lead to 75-70 on Tahirou Diabate's layup with 2:54 left. But the Matadors (0-3) cut the deficit to 77-76 on Terrell Gomez's pair of free throws with 13 seconds left.
CSU Northridge and Portland each split a pair of free throws. Marcus Shaver then hit two free throws for Portland to make it a three-point lead with four seconds left and Portland's Hugh Hogland stole it from Darius Brown II in the final seconds to secure the win.
Shaver added 16 points and Diabate scored 14 for the Pilots.
Gomez had 25 points and Lamine Diane scored 21 for the Matadors.