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Portland, OR – You can't shoot your best every night, but you can always play good defense. At least that is how the old coaching maxim goes.
 
Portland State proved it true on Sunday night where, despite shooting only 37% from the field, the Vikings' defense was better than good, leading to an 87-78 win over the Stanford Cardinal at Memorial Coliseum.
 
PSU's full-court pressure forced 28 turnovers and the Vikings converted them into 40 points on a night when their shooting was sub-par. PSU rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit and trailed by 12 early in the second half before really putting the clamps down on Stanford.
 
"We were relentless," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "Our guys didn't stop. We didn't change our pace, we didn't change our attitude, we didn't change what we do for 40 minutes. We have a philosophy that sooner or later the dam is going to break."
 
Down 55-48 with 14:06 to play, Stanford's dam indeed began to crumble. The Vikings started their defensive blitz and with a 15-2 run fueled by five Cardinal turnovers. Freshman guard Holland Woods hit a pair of three-pointers in the Viking run.
 
When Stanford closed within three the Vikings went on another 7-0 flurry sparked by four more Cardinal giveaways. Woods scored five in that run.
 
In all, PSU went on a 31-8 spree over a span of 11 minutes. The Vikings led by as many as 17 in the late-going. The Cardinal made three three-pointers in the last 90 seconds to make the final margin a bit closer.
 
The victory came in the seventh-place game of the PK80 Invitational Motion Bracket. It was a fair reward for a Viking team that spent most of Thursday's game leading top-ranked Duke, then dropped a two-point heart-breaker on Friday to Butler.
 
Portland State improved to 5-2 on the season by beating Stanford. It is the Viking program's best seven-game mark since 2011.
 
At the outset the Vikings were as cold as the chilly confines of Memorial Coliseum. Portland State opened the game 4-16 from the field and trailed 25-12 midway through the first half. Stanford's largest lead came at 40-26 with 2:47 to go in the half.
 
A paltry .318 shooting percentage in the first half (12-38) held the Vikings back. Stanford made 18-33 shots for .545 mark and led at halftime 44-35.
 
Through 20 minutes PSU couldn't stop the inside strength of Stanford's Reid Travis. By halftime the 6-8 forward had 15 points and 10 rebounds.  
 
The second half was a different story though as PSU outscored Stanford, 52-34. 23 of those points came off turnovers.
 
Deontae North led the Vikings with 22 points and seven rebounds. Bryce Canda had 17 points and four steals. Woods scored 13 points, with 11 coming in the Vikings' second-half surge. Michael Mayhew scored 12 points off the bench and made a career-high five steals.
 
The Vikings had 18 steals on the night. That minimized the damage of Stanford's strong shooting. The Cardinal made 28-54 from the field (.519). PSU hit only 26-70 (.371), but the Vikings took advantage at the free throw line, making 27-33 (.818).
 
Travis finished with a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds. Stanford fell to 3-5 with the loss.
 
GAME NOTES: Portland State was playing Stanford for just the third time ever. The Cardinal had won twice previously in Palo Alto.