Sophomore guard Tanner Krebs added 16 points and eight rebounds as the Gaels (25-4, 14-2 WCC) ended a two-game slide. Saint Mary's defeated Portland for the 16th time in the past 17 meetings and remained one game behind first-place Gonzaga in the WCC race.

Freshman guard Marcus Shaver Jr. scored 15 points for the Pilots (10-19, 4-12), who dropped their fourth straight game. Freshman guard Malcolm Porter had 11 points for Portland.

Senior guard D'Marcus Tyson scored 10 points and is eight shy of becoming the 40th player in Portland history to reach 1,000 career points.

Gaels point guard Emmett Naar departed the contest late in the first half with an apparent ankle injury.

"We want Emmett in there all we can, but credit to the other guys for stepping up when he went down," Landale said in a postgame interview on ROOT Sports. "That shows real toughness and mental strength from those guys. We don't know what the deal, is but if Emmett is out, those guys will be ready to step up."

The Geals held a 53-47 lead after a layup by Krebs with 9:41 to play and stretched the lead to 10 before freshman guard JoJo Walker scored on a layup to bring Portland within 65-57 with four minutes to play.

But senior guard Cullen Neal answered with four consecutive points for Saint Mary's. A short time later, Landale slammed home a dunk to make it a 13-point margin, as the Gaels cruised to the finish.

Landale had 10 first-half points, as the Gaels led 36-31 at the break.

The Pilots grabbed an early 9-2 lead before Saint Mary's answered with a 16-2 burst that was capped by senior forward Calvin Hermanson's 3-pointer to open up a seven-point advantage just before the midway point. Portland responded with a 12-2 push and took a 23-21 lead on a basket by sophomore center Joseph Smoyer with 6:08 left.

Saint Mary's finished the half strong and took the five-point halftime lead on Naar's layup with 18 seconds to play.

--Field Level Media