Nothing makes Portland more eager to defend its home court than squaring off against rival Deering.
On Tuesday at the Portland Expo, the Bulldogs played smothering defense, forcing 21 turnovers and allowing just seven field goals, on their way to a 54-32 win.
Wani Donato scored 14 points and Spencer Cross added 13 as the Bulldogs improved to 11-6.
“We talked about having play defense to be successful,” said Portland Coach Joe Russo. “The kids really played great defense tonight from the beginning of the game until the end. For 32 minutes.”
Portland’s 6-foot-6 senior center Jared Biaya saw his first minutes of the season and scored the game’s first basket, a layup off a pass from Donato. Donato then helped the Bulldogs to a quick lead with a layup and a three-point play. Pepito Girumugisha added a three-point play before a pair of late hoops from Jeissey Khamis made it 16-7 Portland after one.
The Rams got the first three points of the second quarter, including a layup from Remijo Wani with 7:23 to go. It was the final field goal for a long time for the Rams, but after a putback from Cross and a 3-point shot from Pitia Donato, which hit the rim and dropped, the Bulldogs enjoyed a 24-14 advantage at the half.
Portland gradually opened it up in the third quarter, as Cross opened the half with a 3 and Kennedy Charles came off the bench and hit another. Deering finally got a field goal at the horn when Wani banked home a prayer, ending a 15-plus minute drought, but that only pulled the Rams within 35-22.
Deering got as close as 13 in the fourth quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Brady Toher and Khamis ended all doubt. Biaya re-entered the game and added one final layup as a punctuation mark.
“It means a lot to come out one final time with my teammates and show my family and friends how much it means to play for Portland High,” said Biaya, who has been sidelined with HCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick. “I didn’t care about any other game. Senior Night was the one.”
“We played 32 minutes of hard basketball and it’s a great feeling,” said Cross. “We knew what we were going to do and we executed it perfectly.”
Wani scored 11 points to lead the Rams (7-10). Willings added nine.
“It was just one of those games,” said Deering Coach Todd Wing. “They played excellent defense and we forgot who we really are. That happens and we just have to correct it.
“This puts a flame under us to come in and have a good practice tomorrow. We’ll just regroup and go from here.”
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