The Pioneer men's basketball team upset the Conference-leading Puget Sound Loggers 87-67 (box score) Friday night in Tacoma. Their victory, coupled with a loss by Willamette (77-68) in Forest Grove, keeps the Pioneers in the post-season hunt. Joey Toboni scored 23 points to lead the Pioneers.

The Pioneers jumped out to a ten point lead, 18-8, on a three-pointer by Josh Kollasch (sophomore, Tucson, Ariz.) with 11:44 left in the first half. UPS went on a run of their own, drawing to within three, 20-17, with 8:27 remaining in the first half. It was as close as UPS would come in the rest of the game.

The Pioneers built a 19-point lead, 36-17, on a jumped by Thomas Tillery (senior, Portland, Ore.) with 2:42 left in the first. UPS mounted another rally, going on a 11-3 run to close out the half, including a buzzer-beating three pointer as time expired to cut the Pioneer lead to 11, 39-28, going into the break.

The Pioneers scored seven points in the first minute and a half of the second to push back out to an 18 point lead. It took until the 9:25 mark for UPS to get back to their halftime deficit of 11, 67-56. The Pioneer defense shut down UPS, allowing the Pioneers to build their lead back out to 16, 72-56, on a jumper by Kollasch with 6:41 remaining. The Pioneers continued to break the Logger press, scoring on the offensive end, while keeping the Loggers at bay, extending their lead to 20, 82-62, with 2:46 remaining on a jumper by Joey Toboni (senior, San Francisco, Calif.).

Joey Toboni led the Pioneers with 23 points. Thomas Tillery followed up his 32-point performance at Willamette by scoring 20 against the Loggers. Gene Rivera (senior, Kahului, Hawaii), scoredx seven points with 12 rebounds and five assists. Josh Kollasch scored 14 points with five rebounds and four assists.

The Pioneers' Saturday must-win game at Linfield tips at 8pm in McMinnville. Live play-by-play of the game will be available on the internet through sportsjuice.com.