Complete game notes and stats in pdf

A farmer knows you need to “make hay while the sun shines.” For the Portland State Vikings, the sun is going to shine for the next three weeks as they play four of five games at their Stott Center home. That favorable schedule begins this Thursday when the Vikings host Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference game at 7:05 p.m. The game will air on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am.
   
Portland State (11-12, 4-7) will try to build on its positive home record as it attempts to finish out the 2010-11 season above .500 and ahead of last year's 13 wins. The Vikings are 8-3 at home this season and have won their last five meetings with the Bengals in the Stott Center. That includes a 35-point margin in last year's 98-63 victory.
   
The Idaho State game will be the only contest this week. PSU travels to Weber State on Feb. 16, then returns home for three in a row (Loyola Marymount, Feb. 19; Montana, Feb. 24; and Montana State, Feb. 26).
   
Portland State lost two road games last week and, battling a myriad of injuries, has been headed in the wrong direction in recent weeks, losing six of eight games. Five of those six losses were road games. PSU is 2-1 at home over that stretch.
   
Idaho State (6-16, 2-8) comes to the Stott Center having lost three games in a row and eight of the last nine. Worse yet, the last-place Bengals are 0-12 on the road this year.
   
Portland State beat Idaho State, 79-72, in Pocatello on Jan. 2 starting the Bengals run of eight losses in nine games.

ROAD WEARY IN THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE, ONE AND ALL
With as challenging a travel schedule as any league in the country, the Big Sky Conference proves how hard it is to win on the road - just by looking at records.
    • Last week, eight of nine games were won by home teams.
    • Two Big Sky teams have yet to win a road game this year - Sacramento State and Idaho State.
    • The Vikings, currently in seventh in the conference, are only 1-9 on the road.
    • The bottom five teams in the league are an unbelievable 3-55 in road games.
    • The top four teams (all with records over .500) are a mediocre 16-28.
    • In league play, the top two teams - Montana and Northern Colorado are 6-5 on the road. The other seven teams are 5-32 on the road. That makes 11-37 overall for road teams.

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (11-12, 4-7) vs. IDAHO STATE BENGALS (6-16, 2-8)
Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:05 p.m. @ Peter W. Stott Center (1,500), Portland, OR
Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.970.am • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 6:30 p.m.
Live Video Stream: www.b2tv.com • Live Stats: www.GoViks.com
All-Time Series: PSU leads 25-14 • PSU in Portland: 16-4
Big Sky Series: PSU leads 21-10 • PSU in Portland: 12-3

STORYLINES
• The series: Portland State leads the all-time series, 25-14, and the Big Sky series, 21-10... the Vikings have won the last two games against Idaho State... PSU has won 10 of the last 12 in the series overall, including two semifinal matchups in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
• We Got 'em Right Where We Want 'em: The Vikings have beaten the Bengals five straight times at the Stott Center... last year's 98-63 win over the Bengals was the last margin of victory in the history of the series (35 points).
• Jan. 2: Portland State beat Idaho State, 79-72, in the Altitude/Big Sky Conference Game of the Week. SO G Chris Harriel put on a remarkable shooting display scoring a career-high 25 points (9-17 FG, 7-11 3-pt, 5-6 FT). JR G Charles Odum was nearly as impressive, scoring 21 points (8-10 FG, 3-4 3-pt, 2-2 FT)... the Vikings shot .529 from the field and made 14-25 three-pointers (.560) while committing just nine turnovers... ISU got 22 points and 11 rebounds from center Deividas Busma.
• The Bengals: Idaho State was 7-22 last season, 4-12 and eighth in the Big Sky Conference... one starter and four letterwinners return from that team... Head Coach Joe O'Brien is in his fifth season at Idaho State. He has a 51-93 record. In 19 years as a head coach, O'Brien is 364-210 overall. O'Brien is 2-9 all-time against the Vikings.
• This year: Idaho State was 5-8, 1-0 in the Big Sky the last time the Bengals met the Vikings (Jan. 2). Since then, it has been a rough go, with ISU losing eight of nine games... Broderick Gilchrest leads the team with 14.1 points per game, 39 three-point field goals and 44 assists... 7-foot center Deividas Busma averages 11.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game. Busma averages a league-leading 3.3 blocks in conference games... Idaho State ranks last in the Big Sky Conference in scoring (63.0), scoring margin (-7.6), three-point shooting (.305), assists (9.5) and three-pointers made (4.3 pg).

VIKING HEAD COACH TYLER GEVING
Tyler Geving is in his second season as Head Coach and sixth season overall with the Portland State program. Geving has a 24-31 record with the Vikings. He was 13-19 in 2009-10 and led PSU to the Big Sky Tournament semifinals. Geving is a 1996 graduate of Central Washington and has been in collegiate coaching for 16 years.
   
Geving is 2-1 against Idaho State. He is 12-17 all-time against Big Sky Conference opponents. Geving is 12-14 all-time in non-conference games.
   
The second-year Head Coach is assisted by Andy McClouskey (1st year, Oregon State, 1982), Eric Harper (6th year, Central Washington, 1995) and Anthony Owens (2nd year, Great Falls, 2006). Former Viking player Mickey Polis is the Director of Operations (2nd year, Portland State, 2009).

GAME WEEK ACTIVITIES
VIKINGS ON RADIO: All Portland State basketball games can be heard on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am. The Viking Pregame Show begins one-half hour prior to tipoff with Tom Hewitt calling all the action.
INTERNET STREAMING: Live streaming video of all Portland State home and Big Sky Conference games can be seen free at www.b2TV.com. Live stats for Portland State home games are at www.GoViks.com.
TICKETS: Portland State Basketball tickets are priced from $10-$15 for adults and $7-$10 for juniors and seniors. Tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com. They are also available to the Portland State ticket office, or at the Stott Center beginning 90 minutes prior to the game. The Portland State Ticket Office is located Smith Memorial Union, 1825 SW Broadway on the Portland State campus or call 888-VIK-TIKS/503-725-3307.

FAST BREAKS
WINNING LINES 
• PSU is 8-3 at home this year, 3-2 in Big Sky home games... since the start of the 2007-08 season, Portland State is 41-9 at home, including 25-6 in Big Sky Conference games.
• PSU has gone 109-36 in 145 games at the Stott Center since the 1996-97 season. Including home games at Memorial Coliseum (12-6) and the Rose Garden (19-9), the Vikings are 140-51 at home over the past 15 seasons.
• PSU is 36-23 in Big Sky games since the start of the 2007-08 season, 41-24 including tournament games.

THE SHOT WON'T FALL: Portland State has lost four of five games, and in all four losses did not shoot better than .392 from the field, averaging just 59.2 points per game... in the four losses, PSU was 76-202 from the field (.376).

MISSING THE GLASS MAN: With leading rebounder JR F Chehales Tapscott (8.2 pg) out, the Vikings have been outrebounded by their last four opponents by an average of 12.2 boards per game.

A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE: Despite losing six of eight games recently, the 11-12 Vikings are still a game ahead of last year's pace (10-13). PSU was 13-19 overall last season. 

INJURIES PLAGUE VIKINGS IN 2010-11: The Portland State Vikings have lost 32 games to injuries to four different players this year. The Vikings are still missing JR F Chehales Tapscott, who ranks second in the conference in rebounding, due to a knee injury. It is hoped he can return some time before the end of the season and has missed five games so far... PSU was without SR F Phil Nelson for the first 14 games of the season because of a broken left foot. Nelson is just now rounding into form after being on the court for about one month. He also missed the last 12 games of last year... JR C Nate Lozeau missed four games with a bad ankle sprain and just returned to action last week... JR G Terry Coleman struggled with ankle and lower leg injuries in the first half of the season and missed nine games as a result.

GIVING HIS BIG SKY BEST: JR G Charles Odum has been tearing up the Big Sky. In 11 Big Sky games, Odum averages a team-best 16.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He is shooting .579 from the field, .571 from three-point range and .692 at the line in Big Sky games. Odum has led the team in scoring five times and twice set a new career-high. Most recently, Odum scored a career-high 24 at Montana (1/15), and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds against Northern Arizona (1/22)... Odum was averaging 12.7 points in non-conference games... Odum now averages a team-leading 14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, shoots .529 from the field, .456 from three-point range and .729 at the line for the season… Odum has a league-leading 13 straight double-figure scoring games.

HE'S GOT A HANDLE ON IT: Moving JR G Charles Odum into the starting lineup meant moving SR G Melvin Jones over to the point from his more comfortable shooting-guard role. Jones has responded by committing just seven turnovers in 12 games... in the Jan. 29 win over Sacramento State, Jones put up one of his best shooting lines in two seasons as a Viking. He made 6-9 field goals, including 5-7 from three-point range. The shot that will be most remembered though was the 5-10 guard's driving dunk after the Hornets had closed the Viking lead to five inside the final minute... Jones is averaging 11.1 points, 2.4 assists and has team-bests of 54 three-point field goals and an .825 free throw percentage.

TOWERING TREE: SR F Tree Thomas went for a career-high 29 points in the Vikings' win over Sacramento State on Jan. 29. He made 9-16 from the field and 11-13 at the line. The last time a Viking scored more points was 49 games ago (32 by Dominic Waters on Nov. 21, 2009 against Cal Poly)... Thomas has scored 102 points (35-65 FG) in his last seven games and raised his scoring average to 9.5 per game this year. Thomas is now shooting .497 from the field and .807 at the line. He averages 11.7 points and shoots .536 in Big Sky Conference games.

MOST IMPROVED: The play of SO G Chris Harriel makes him the easy choice for Most Improved Viking this season. While Coach Tyler Geving knew his talented sophomore would be better, he probably didn't count on quite this much production. Harriel has already set three new career scoring highs (now 25) and three new career rebounding highs (now 12). Harriel averages 14.0 points per game while averaging 5.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals... he has slumped a bit in the last seven games, averaging just 8.4 points and shooting 27% from the field.

STARTING TO PHIL IT UP: SR F Phil Nelson has scored 26 points with 18 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots in his last three games as he is getting more comfortable on the floor following a long injury layoff. Nelson started for the first time this year at Northern Colorado... prior to that, Nelson had averaged 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in six games... Nelson's long-awaited return came on Jan. 8 against Eastern Washington. Nelson had missed 26 straight games after breaking his left foot twice. Nelson broke his foot late last January, missing the final 12 games of the season. He had been averaging 12.9 points and had 48 three-point field goals through 20 games. Nelson reinjured the foot on Nov. 8 and missed the first 14 games of this year. PSU went 13-13 in the 26 games Nelson had missed since Jan. 30... Nelson has started 54 games in his Viking career. PSU is 31-23 in those games and 34-28 overall in games he plays.

GREAT TAP-SCOTT!: A knee injury for JR F Chehales Tapscott has put his season on hold for the time being, and the Vikings will now miss their leading rebounder and shot-blocker indefinitely. The former NWAACC Player of the Year from Clackamas CC is averaging 11.7 points, a team-high 8.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He is shooting .463 from the field and has 13 blocked shots.

DANE'S DIMES: Coach Tyler Geving has gone back to using JR G Dane Johnson almost exclusive as backup point guard. He has averaged 19 minutes per game over the last four contests and handing out 15 assists during that span... Johnson leads the Vikings this year with 65 assists while starting 12 games and averaging 18 minutes per game... Johnson had a career-high 12 points at Northern Colorado (3-3 3-pt FG, 3-3 FT), four assists and two steals... he shoots .514 from the field, .375 from three-point range and has a remarkable 65/28 assist-to-turnover ratio.

A SIMPLE ANALYSIS: Portland State is 7-1 when outshooting opponents, 6-1 when outrebounding or even in rebounds with opponents... the Vikings are 0-8 when failing to score at least 69 points, and 7-0 when scoring 79 points or more.

VIKINGS GET LOYOLA MARYMOUNT IN ESPN BRACKETBUSTER: ESPN announced its annual BracketBuster games on Jan. 31, and Portland State has been selected to host Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference on Feb. 19. Eleven games will be televised by ESPN, but the PSU/LMU game will NOT be televised. The Vikings will play a return game with the Lions within the next two seasons.   
   
PSU's game with LMU will take place at 4 p.m. on Feb. 19 as the second game of a doubleheader with the Portland State women (vs. Northern Arizona).
   
PSU is 1-1 against WCC teams this year, beating Pepperdine and losing to Portland. The Vikings are 3-2 against WCC teams in Head Coach Tyler Geving's two seasons. PSU is 6-2 against the WCC dating back to the start of the 2007-08 season, including 3-1 vs. Portland, 2-0 vs. Pepperdine, 1-0 vs. Gonzaga and 0-1 vs. Saint Mary's. Wins over #7 Gonzaga (2008-09) and #25 Portland (2009-10) came against nationally-ranked teams.
   
Portland State leads the all-time series with Loyola Marymount, 2-1 (1-0 in Portland), but the teams have not met since the 2001-02 season.
   
Portland State will be playing its fifth ESPN BracketBuster game in the last seven seasons. The Vikings are 1-3 in the previous four with the home team winning every game. PSU is 2-2 in the return games.
    Feb. 19, 2005: at Middle Tennessee State 83, Portland State 62
    Feb. 17, 2007: at Cal Poly 92, Portland State 87
    Feb. 23, 2008: at Cal State Fullerton 85, Portland State 69
    Feb. 21, 2009: at Portland State 93, Boise State 81

MELVIN JONES FEATURED ON TODAY SHOW'S “AMERICAN STORY”: Portland State senior guard Melvin Jones was featured on NBC's The Today Show on Feb. 4. He was the subject of a regular feature called “American Story with Bob Dotson.” Dotson was in town earlier in January to interview Melvin, his family and their unique story.
       
Jones had already been featured on the front page of the Seattle Times and in the Portland Tribune for his inspiring story. Jones has risen up from a high school student on a path to failure to an Academic All-Conference level student at Portland State while excelling in the sport of basketball. He has done so with the assistance of his adoptive mother, Jennifer Annable, former high school coach, Kasey Poirrer, and their family.
   
To see the Today Show feature on line, go to: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41277521/ns/today-today_people/#
   
The story originally appeared on GoViks.com on February 2, 2010. That link is here: http://www.goviks.com/news/2010/2/2/32207.aspx?path=mbball
   
A Seattle Times story was developed over the past year and ran on Thanksgiving: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2013517803_brewer25.html