Portland Pilots (7-9) vs. St. Mary's Gaels (11-6)
January 11, 2024 11:00 pm EDT
The Line: St. Mary's Gaels -18 ; Over/Under: 135
(Get latest betting odds)
The Portland Pilots and the Saint Mary’s Gaels meet Thursday in college basketball action from McKeon Pavilion. Portland beat Pacific in their latest outing, moving the Pilots to 7-9 overall. As for Saint Mary’s, they’re 11-6 so far following a victory over Loyola Marymount. Let’s get into our Portland vs. Saint Mary’s prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Portland Pilots
The Pilots went a shaky 6-5 over their first 11 games this year, losing to Tennessee State, Nevada, Portland State, Air Force and North Dakota State along the way. After losses to Grand Canyon, Hawaii, UMass and Temple, Portland finally got another victory versus Pacific on Saturday.
In the Pacific matchup, the Pilots were up 33-30 in the locker room. Portland got better from there on a 45-34 run and ended up taking the big win 78-64. Leading the team in scoring was Tyler Robertson with his 19 points and nine rebounds alongside eight assists and three steals.
Saint Mary’s Gaels
Over on the Saint Mary’s side, they started the year on a shaky run themselves at 3-5. Those wins were versus Stanislaus State, New Mexico and Davidson. The Gaels are 8-1 since then though, with wins over Cleveland State, Colorado State, UNLV, Middle Tennessee, Northern Kentucky, Kent State, San Diego and LMU.
Matched up against Loyola Marymount in their Saturday game, the Gaels went into the second half with a four-point edge. Saint Mary’s kept the pace on a 33-33 run from there and pulled off the win 68-64. Tops in scoring was Augustas Marciulionis with 22 points, three rebounds and three assists.
ANDREW’S FREE PORTLAND VS SAINT MARY’S PREDICTION
I’ll stay with Saint Mary’s. The line’s a bit too thick to mess with, though. The Gaels had something of a close call versus a scrappy LMU squad in their last outing, but everything worked out well in the end. Saint Mary’s shot pretty poorly in that one though, with 38.7 percent from the field and 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from 3-point range. During this 8-1 run, the Gaels have finished below 70 points in five outings.
As for Portland, they had a nice offensive showing in the Pacific game but had hit below 64 points in three of the previous four games. If the Pilots can’t find some consistent shooting in this one I don’t think they’ll keep a cover pace.
