Complete notes and stats in pdf

The Portland State Vikings play in their season finale this Thursday when they travel to Seattle University for a 7:10 p.m. game.  The contest airs on Freedom 970 AM and www.970.am.
   
Portland State will attempt to end the year on a high note with a win. The Vikings are 13-16 this season, matching last year's win total (13-19) in three fewer games. A win would improve upon last year's record.
   
The Vikings would also like to stop a trend of road losses. PSU has dropped seven straight games on the road and is just 1-11 on the road overall. PSU has dropped six of its last eight games overall.
   
In an earlier meeting this season, Portland State defeated Seattle, 83-76, at the Stott Center.
   
Seattle University, a Division I independent program, stands at 11-19 going into its final game of the season. The Redhawks are 6-5 in home games. They have lost their last two games, both coming on the road.   
   
Portland State was picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Conference in both the coaches and media preseason polls... and seventh they did finish with a 5-11 mark. At 13-16, the Vikings have the fifth-best overall record among Big Sky teams.

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (13-16) vs. SEATTLE REDHAWKS (11-19)
Thursday, March 10, 7:10 p.m. @ Key Arena (8,000), Seattle, WA
Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.970.am • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 6:30 p.m.
Live Video Stream: None • Live Stats: www.GoViks.com
All-Time Series: Seattle leads 7-6 • PSU in Seattle: 0-6

STORYLINES
• The series: Portland State has never beaten Seattle University in Seattle in a series that dates back to the Elgin Baylor days of the mid-1950s... Seattle leads the series, 7-6, and is 6-0 in games played in Seattle... PSU is 4-1 against the Redhawks in Portland and 2-0 at neutral sites... Seattle made a recent return to Division I basketball. PSU is 3-2 against the Redhawks since that occured. In 2008-09, the Vikings swept a pair of games against Seattle. Last season, SU swept the series from the Vikings. On Dec. 1 of this year, the Vikings won 83-76 in a game at the Stott Center.
• Dec. 1: Portland State beat Seattle, 83-76, in the Stott Center. Trailing 18-17 midway through first half, the Vikings went on a 16-2 run to take command and never trail again. PSU made 21-27 second-half free throws and 26-32 overall to seal the win... Melvin Jones had 23 points to lead four Vikings in double figures. Chehales Tapscott added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds... PSU won the battle of boards, 42-33, including 21 on the offensive glass... Cervante Burrell scored 20 points and had four assists to lead Seattle.
• The Redhawks: Seattle University is a Division I independent program coming off a 17-14 season in 2009-10. Three starters and five letterwinners return from that team... Head Coach Cameron Dollar is in his second season with Redhawks. He has a 28-33 record. Dollar is 2-1 all-time against the Vikings.
• This season: Seattle University is 11-19 this season. The Redhawks and Vikings have similar opponents in Montana State, Weber State, Eastern Washington, Pepperdine, Utah Valley, Loyola Marymount, Portland and Cal State Bakersfield. The Redhawks were 4-6 against those teams. The Vikings were 6-5 against those teams... Seattle has a -6.8 scoring margin, due mainly to poor shooting. The Redhawks shoot just .397 from the field, .293 from three-point range and .657 at the line... junior forward Aaron Broussard is the team's top scorer (14.4) and rebounder (7.8)... freshman guard Sterling Carter averages 13.6 points and has made 79 three-point field goals this year... senior forward Alex Jones averages 11.5 points... junior guard Cervante Burrell averages 11.2 points and 3.4 assists per game.

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 26-35 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 1-2 against Seattle. Geving is 13-14 all-time in non-conference games. He is 13-21 all-time against Big Sky Conference opponents.
   
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).

ODUM NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG SKY CONFERENCE
Portland State junior guard Charles Odum was named second team All-Big Sky Conference in a vote by league coaches. Odum is Portland State's leading scorer this season at 14.2 points per game. He also averages 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists, while shooting .533 from the field, .405 from three-point range and .721 at the free throw line.
   
Odum, a native of Lakewood, CA, came to PSU this season after playing two years at College of Southern Idaho. The 6-foot, 205-pound guard showed a remarkable ability to shoot as well as slash to the basket and score over much taller players.
   
In Big Sky Conference play, Odum was even better for the Vikings, averaging 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists, shooting .565 from the field, .465 from three-point range and .699 at the line.
   
For the season, Odum led the team in scoring in a team-high 12 times, and assists a team-high 12 times. He had 24 double-figure scoring games and five 20-point games to lead the team in each of those categories.

2010-11 BIG SKY CONFERENCE AWARDS
Most Valuable Player: Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado
Defensive Player of the Year: Brian Qvale, Montana
Freshman of the Year: Byron Fulton, Weber State
Newcomer of the Year: Scott Bamforth, Weber State
 
ALL-BIG SKY CONFERENCE TEAM
 
FIRST TEAM
Scott Bamforth, Weber State, G, 6-2, SO
*Devon Beitzel, Northern Colorado, G, 6-1, SR
Kyle Bullinger, Weber State, F, 6-6, JR
Will Cherry, Montana, G, SO, 6-1
*#Cameron Jones, Northern Arizona, G, 6-4, SR     
*Brian Qvale, Montana, C, 6-11, SR

*Unanimous Selection • #Two-Time Selection

SECOND TEAM
Glen Dean, Eastern Washington, G, 5-10, SO
Bobby Howard, Montana State, F, 6-7, SR
Neal Kingman, Northern Colorado, F, 6-7, SR
Charles Odum, Portland State, G, 6-0, JR
Gabe Rogers, Northern Arizona, G, 6-2, SO
 
HONORABLE MENTION
Deividas Busma, Idaho State, C, 7-0, SR
John Dickson, Sacramento State, F, 6-6, SO
Broderick Gilchrest, Idaho State, G, 6-0, SR
Lindsey Hughey, Weber State, G, 6-3, SR
Shane Johannsen, Northern Arizona, F, 6-7, SR
Chris Kaba, Northern Colorado, F, 6-8, SR
Trevor Morris, Weber State, C, 6-9, SR
Erik Rush, Montana State, G, 6-5, SR
Derek Selvig, Montana, F, 7-0, JR

5 x 10: Portland State has four players averaging 10 or more points this year (JR G Charles Odum, 14.2; SO G Chris Harriel 12.9; JR F Chehales Tapscott 11.9; SR G Melvin Jones, 11.1), with SR F Tree Thomas knocking on the door at 9.9 points per game. Tree needs 14 points in the final game to average 10 for the season.

GOOD HANDLE: Portland State ranks second in the Big Sky Conference with just 12.5 turnovers per game. In addition, the Vikings have averaged only 10.0 turnovers over the last six games (which includes 18 at Northern Arizona)... PSU averaged 10.9 turnovers in Big Sky games, fewest in the league.

THEY MADE IT TO 13, NOW THEY WANT MORE: Portland State's win over Montana State (2/26) was victory number 13 this season. That matches last year's win total (13-19) and the Vikings have still played three fewer games - a pretty good achievement considering all the injuries that have affected the Vikings this year. Now the Vikings go to Seattle, trying to better last year's win total. It won't be easy as the Vikings are just 1-11 on the road. However, PSU defeated Seattle on Dec. 1 at the Stott Center, 83-76... PSU's 13 wins ties for eighth-most in 15 seasons since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Portland State is 8-5 in non-conference games (with one to go at Seattle on Mar. 10). Only twice have the Vikings won more non-conference games since joining the Big Sky (10 in 2008-09, 9 in 2006-07). This is the third time PSU has won eight non-conference games in a season over the last 16 years. 

GIVING HIS BIG SKY BEST: JR G Charles Odum had a strong Big Sky Conference season leading the team in scoring, averaging 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He shot .565 from the field, .465 from three-point range and .699 at the line. On Mar. 3, Odum was named second team All-Big Sky Conference... Odum led the team in scoring in seven games and twice set a new career-high. He had career-high 24-point games at Montana (1/15) and against Idaho State (2/10), and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds against Northern Arizona (1/22)... Odum averages 12.7 points in non-conference games... Odum now averages a team-leading 14.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, shoots .533 from the field, .405 from three-point range and .721 at the line for the season.

HE'S GOT A HANDLE ON IT: Moving JR G Charles Odum into the starting lineup at the beginning of the Big Sky Conference season meant moving SR G Melvin Jones over to the point from his more comfortable shooting-guard role. Jones has responded by committing just 20 turnovers in 18 games since... Jones is averaging 11.1 points, 2.3 assists and has a team-best of 68 three-point field goals... Jones ranks fourth all-time in three-pointers made at Portland State with 149.

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. It was the most points scored by a Viking in 49 games (32 by Dominic Waters on Nov. 21, 2009 against Cal Poly)... Thomas has averaged 13.1 points and shot .525 from the field in his last 13 games. That has raised his scoring average to 9.9 per game this year. Thomas is now shooting .498 from the field and .804 at the line. He averaged 11.4 points and shot .508 in Big Sky Conference games.

TAP-IN: A knee injury for JR F Chehales Tapscott put his season on hold for three weeks. He missed six games and underwent surgery on Jan. 26 to repair cartilage damage in his right knee. Tapscott's return came at Weber State (2/16), where he had five points and six rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. In his last four games, he has looked like the Tapscott of old, averaging 14.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and shooting .542 from the field. Tapscott had a career-high 28 points (12-16 FG) and seven rebounds against Montana... the former NWAACC Player of the Year from Clackamas CC is averaging 11.9 points, a team-high 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He is shooting .470 from the field and has a team-best 15 blocked shots.

LOOKING FOR A SLUMP BUSTER: SO G Chris Harriel has gone through a shooting slump in the last 14 games, averaging just 8.4 points and shooting 29% from the field. Prior to that, he was averaging 16.2 points. However, Harriel has set new career scoring (25) and rebounding (12) highs this year... Harriel averages 12.9 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals.

DANE'S DIMES: JR G Dane Johnson has played exclusively as backup point guard over the last 10 games. He has averaged 19 minutes per game and handed out 34 assists during that span (3.4 pg) against just seven turnovers... Johnson leads the Vikings this year with 84 assists while starting 12 games and averaging 18 minutes... 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 .510 from the field, .387 from three-point range and has a remarkable 84/31 assist-to-turnover ratio which ranks second in the Big Sky Conference and 15th in the nation (2.8 a/to).

A DIFFERENT ROLE: SR F Phil Nelson moved back to the bench with the return of JR F Chehales Tapscott. Although he was exclusively a starter in his first two seasons as a Viking, the sixth-man role might fit him better... since returning from injury 15 games ago, he has shot just .278 from the field and .295 from three-point range, averaging 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 24 minutes per game. His numbers are down from the previous two seasons and certainly are related to his foot injuries and conditioning. Nelson's long-awaited return came on Jan. 8 against Eastern Washington. He 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 57 games in his Viking career. PSU is 32-25 in those games and 36-32 overall in games he plays.