yes, that's how I have done it. I had the intake off but can be done with it on.

when you reset the gear mesh of the drive to the cam it may not want to reseat the hex on the oil pump.

you can either rotate engine turn cam/gear/pushing down with screwdriver till it drops in the pump. then recheck TDC and see if it is where you want it. (I spin engine over with starter a couple turns, then bump back to TDC)

or you can use a long hex oil priming tool to turn the oil pump then see if it will drop back in repete as needed.

sometimes a wire looped around the gear to pull up on will work/help with intake on.

FYI, if it's a used engine it may have carbon build up on the gear shaft and want to pull the block bushing up/out of block. be hard to turn by hand ect.

be sure it stays seated or replace if it wants to come out.

FYI, if you need to replace the bushing, it comes in a freeze/core plug kit about 16 bux at napa.

for less headache, I suggest pulling the intake to rephrase the dist drive gear.