Portland’s Alec Wintering suffers career-ending injury

The Portland Pilots announced Saturday that senior point guard Alec Wintering has suffered a career-ending ACL tear.

A four year starter, Wintering (19.5 ppg, 5.6 apg) had one of the more productive careers in Portland history. With 568 career assists he finishes second all-time, just five short of the first place mark set by Darwin Cook. He ranks first in free throws made (499), second in steals (177), fifth in points scored (1,548), fifth in starts (110) and sixth in three point percentage (40.1%).

Wintering was named to the all-WCC first team as a junior, and again this preseason. He was an all-WCC second teamer as a sophomore. This was his third season as a team captain.

Wintering ranked among the top-three this season in the West Coast Conference in scoring, steals, assists and minutes played. As of press time he was third among active Division I players in career assists.

The ACL tear took place late in Thursday’s 75-50 loss at San Francisco, but was not confirmed until Wintering underwent an MRI on Saturday.

Playing 93.5% of available minutes this season, the third most of any player in the nation, the six-foot senior had been the Pilots’ iron man. Making this loss even more devastating is the timing. An ice storm earlier this month caused their home game against No. 4 Gonzaga to be rescheduled to Monday, January 23. Before then, the Pilots must play the Zags in Spokane on Saturday, January 21.

This is a brutal loss at a brutal time for first year coach Terry Porter’s Pilots. Wintering was one of the more energetic and entertaining guards in the country over the past few seasons.