Boxscore

Portland, OR - Melvin Jones scored 19 points and led five Vikings in double figures as Portland State won a non-conference game over Loyola Marymount, 84-75, at the Stott Center.

It was a solid performance all the way around for the Vikings as they ended a four-game losing streak and improved to 12-14 on the season. The game was part of the ESPNBracketBuster series, though it was not televised.

The Vikings brought energy at the start of the game, forcing four early LMU turnovers and building a 15-5 lead. Six different Vikings scored in the opening five minutes to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Jones, Chehales Tapscott and Phil Nelson all shot it well in the first half as Portland State broke out to a big lead. The threesome combined for 36 points in the first 20 minutes. Jones made 6-7 from the field, 4-5 from three-point range and had 16 at the break.

Portland State also took the fight to the Lions on the backboards, an area in which they have struggled mightily in recent games. PSU held a 20-14 rebound advantage at halftime and that translated into a 51-33 halftime lead. The Vikings had been outrebounded by more than 11 per game in their previous six outings.

PSU was 20-36 shooting (.556) at halftime, 7-11 from three-point range (.636) and had just three turnovers.

Both teams shot poorly to open the second half, but the Vikings maintained control of the game. A free throw line jumper by Tree Thomas with 12:51 left gave PSU a 22-point lead at 63-41. That was the biggest lead of the game and despite shooting just 39% in the second half, the Vikings cruised to the win.

The Lions cut the deficit to single digits in the closing seconds but never seriously threatened.

Tapscott, playing his first game in the Stott Center in a month because of a knee injury, was a key to the Vikings' toughness inside. He scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year.

Charles Odum scored 15 points, while Nelson and Tree Thomas had 14 points each. Chris Harriel had just seven points but did all the little things, pulling down nine rebounds, handing out six assists and making three steals.

Loyola Marymount dropped to 10-18 on the season. The Lions got  23 points from Drew Viney. Ashley Hamilton scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

GAME NOTES:  The Vikings are 7-0 when scoring at least 80 points… Portland State is 2-1 against West Coast Conference teams this year, beating Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, and losing to Portland… PSU is also 8-5 against non-conference opponents… with 12 wins, the Vikings are now just one victory shy of last season's total (13-19)… PSU is 9-4 at home this year… Portland State hosts its final two home games next week. The Vikings will battle Montana on Thursday and Montana State on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m. and air on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am. They can be seen via live video stream at www.b2tv.com.