Men’s Basketball Looks to Continue Road Success at Portland State

NAU Game Notes vs. Portland State (PDF)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona men’s basketball team will look for its first Big Sky Conference road sweep of the Portland State-Eastern Washington trip since 2001-02 with a 2 p.m. tip against Portland State. The Lumberjacks are coming off a 73-69 victory over Eastern Washington Friday night. NAU last swept a Big Sky road series in the 2008 season.

NAU will face a Portland State team that is also coming in with confidence after an 85-69 win over league-leading Northern Colorado on Friday.

PSU shot just .419 from the field, and saw its star, Dominic Waters, foul out with five minutes to play. But, led by a career-high-tying 13 rebounds from Jamie Jones, PSU outboarded the Bears, 45-30, including 18 on the offensive glass. In the end, free throw shooting was also vital to the Viking win, as they hit 28-30 overall, a .933 mark.

"It was nice to win without shooting the ball well. We did a good job of contesting their shots, and on the rebounding end, we recognized that was something early on we weren't doing well. We were exploited by some bigger teams. But, we've worked hard on it and I think its paying off," said Viking Head Coach Tyler Geving.

The Vikings also got a brilliant defensive performance by Paul Guede, who held Northern Colorado's top scorer, Will Figures, to 2-13 shooting from the field.

The win improved the Vikings to 3-2 in the Big Sky Conference. PSU is now 6-0 at home this season and have won nine straight Big Sky home games.

NAU was coming off the a 25-point loss to Weber State that was the largest to a Big Sky opponent since NAU lost at Portland State by 26 points during the 1999-00 season (101-75).

The game is televised by Altitude as the part of the Big Sky Game of the Week package. The game will also be available on Big Sky TV and the Lumberjack Radio Network (KAFF AM 930 in Flagstaff).