McSwiggan scores 17; Portland cruises past USC Upstate 73-56

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Josh McSwiggan opened the game with a 3-point basket from the right wing, made three more in 21 minutes and scored 17 points as Portland cruised past USC Upstate 73-56 Wednesday night in the opening game of the Portland Classic.

McSwiggan scored 14 of his points in the first half as 12 Pilots (4-2) saw game time. Marcus Shaver, Jr. added 13 points, JoJo Walker 11 and Theo Akwuba grabbed 11 rebounds.

Deion Holmes, after missing the first three games, led USC Upstate (1-3) with 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting with three 3-pointers. The rest of the Spartans were 10 of 48

The Spartans were shooting in the low 20 percents for much of the game, finishing 18 of 65 (28 percent).

Portland doubled the score on USC Upstate at the half, leading 38-19 and added an 8-0 run over two minutes early in the second half.

USC Upstate put together an 11-0 run late in the game, cutting the deficit from 30 points to 69-50 on a Josh Aldrich trey.