complete notes and stats in pdf

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (13-13, 7-6) vs. SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS (9-17, 4-10)
Thursday, February 23, 2012, 7:35 p.m. @ The Hornets Nest (1,200), Sacramento, CA
Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.970.am • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 7 p.m.
Live Video Stream: www.b2tv.com • Live Stats: www.GoViks.com
All-Time Series: PSU leads 23-10 • PSU in Sacramento: 7-9
Big Sky Series: PSU leads 22-9 • PSU in Sacramento: 7-8

Portland State has a goal in mind this Thursday when it travels to Sacramento State; getting a win to clinch a berth in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. While the Vikings can currently do no worse than tie for sixth in league play, a win would guarantee a spot in the six-team Big Sky Tournament. The Vikings and the Hornets meet at the Hornets Nest on Thursday at 7:35 p.m. The game airs on Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com. There is a live video sream at www.b2tv.com.
    
PSU has won three straight Big Sky Conference games, including an 85-67 win over the Hornets last Wednesday in Portland. The Vikings are 13-13 overall, 7-6 and in third place in the Big Sky. PSU has won four of its last six road games, and is 6-10 overall on the road.
    
Sacramento State had a recent four-game winning streak, but has now lost three in a row. The Hornets are 9-17 overall, 4-10 in the Big Sky with slim hopes for a post-season bid. Sac is 6-8 at home this year.
    
On Saturday night, the Vikings host Eastern Washington in another Big Sky game at the Stott Center. The Eagles (12-15, 6-7), who play at Idaho State on Thursday, are also battling for a Big Sky Tournament berth.
    
The final Big Sky regular season game is on Feb. 28 against Northern Colorado (9-17, 5-9), also at the Stott Center.  

STORYLINES
• The series: Portland State holds a 23-10 advantage in the all-time series, and 22-9 lead in the Big Sky series... the Vikings have won nine of the last 10, including an 85-67 victory last Wednesday in Portland... the Hornets won 63-55 last year in Sacramento and have an 8-7 advantage in Big Sky games played there... PSU has swept the season series seven times in 15 seasons. They will go for an eighth sweep this week.
• Feb. 15 - PSU 85, SAC 67: Portland State got off to a quick start and the rout was on by halftime with a 49-22 lead. The Vikings led by as many as 31 in the game and shot .652 for the game... Chehales Tapscott scored 17 points with 11 rebounds, five blocked shots, three steals and three assists to lead PSU... Charles Odum added 16 points... Jackson Carbajal scored 19 points and Heath Hoffman had 17 for the Hornets, who shot just .393 as a team.
• The Hornets: Sacramento State, which joined the Big Sky Conference the same year as Portland State (1996-97), has never won a Big Sky Conference championship... the Hornets were 7-21 last season, 4-12 and tied for eighth in the Big Sky Conference... three starters and seven letterwinners return from that team... Dylan Garrity leads the Big Sky in assists (6.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3). He ranks sixth in the nation in assists... John Dickson is the team's top scorer (11.9), while Joe Eberhard averages 11.9 points, a team-best 6.0 rebounds and shoots .451 from three-point range.
• Head Coach Brian Katz is in his fourth year at Sacramento State. He has a 27-86 record. Katz is 1-6 all-time against Portland State.

THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The six-team Big Sky Conference Tournament begins on Mar. 3 with quarterfinal round games at the home sites of the third and fourth-place teams. Portland State is now tied for third, but can move no higher. With a two-and-a-half game lead over seventh-place Northern Colorado (5-9), PSU would have to lose its final three and UNC win its final two for the Vikings to possibly get bounced out of the tournament. However, that would require some tie-breaking math that would have to be determined at the season's conclusion (as the team's would have had a season split, assuming a UNC win over the Viks on Feb. 28).
    
What the Vikings really seek is that first-round home game. Three wins would guarantee a first-round home game (and third seed). Two wins would NOT guarantee a first-round home game, but would make it highly likely depending on other conference results.
    
The Big Sky Conference final four will be on Mar. 6-7 at the home of the regular season champion, either Weber State (13-1) or Montana (12-1).

VIKING HEAD COACH TYLER GEVING
Tyler Geving is in his third season as Head Coach and seventh season overall with the Portland State program. He was 13-19 in 2009-10 and led PSU to the Big Sky Tournament semifinals. In 2010-11, his Vikings were 14-16 overall.
    
Geving is a 1996 graduate of Central Washington and has been in collegiate coaching for 17 years.
    
The third-year Head Coach is assisted by Andy McClouskey (2nd year, Oregon State, 1982), Eric Harper (7th year, Central Washington, 1995) and Anthony Owens (3rd year, Great Falls, 2006). Former Viking player Mickey Polis is the Director of Operations (3rd year, Portland State, 2009).
    
Geving's record breakdown:
    • Geving is 40-48 all-time at Portland State.
    • 20-28 all-time against Big Sky Conference opponents, 20-20 all-time in non-conference games.
    • Geving is 25-12 at home. He is 15-36 on the road, including 4-2 in neutral site games.
    • Geving is 4-1 all-time against Sacramento State, including 1-1 in Sacramento.

GAME WEEK ACTIVITIES
VIKINGS ON THE RADIO: All Portland State basketball games can be heard on Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com. The Viking Pregame Show begins one-half hour prior to kickoff each week. Tom Hewitt does the play-by-play.
VIKINGS ON THE INTERNET: 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: Tickets for all home games are available for $15 (reserved) and $10 (general admission). Youth prices are $10 and $7. Groups of 15 or more get special admission prices. To purchase tickets by phone, call 1.888.VIK.TIKS or 503.725.3307. Tickets are on sale at the PSU Ticket Office, located in Smith Memorial Student Union. Tickets are also available at the Stott Center beginning 90 minutes prior to tipoff.

FAST BREAKS

WINNING LINES  
• THE BROOM: Portland State has been swept by Weber State, Montana and Montana State this season. However, the Vikings have swept Idaho State and Northern Arizona. The other three Big Sky Conference series' will be determined in the next week.
• The Vikings are 7-3 at home this year, 3-3 in Big Sky games... over the last six seasons, PSU is 62-17 at home, including 32-14 in Big Sky Conference games.
• The Vikings are 6-10 on the road this season, including two neutral site wins... the Vikings are 4-3 in Big Sky road games - their most Big Sky road wins since 2008-09, and second-most in history.
• PSU has gone 118-41 in 159 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 149-56 at home over the past 16 seasons.
• PSU is 43-33 in Big Sky games since the start of the 2007-08 season, 48-34 including tournament games.

BETTER IN THE BIG SKY: Portland State's 7-6 Big Sky Conference record already has it two better than last season (5-11) with three games remaining. PSU has now matched the win total from 2009-10 (7-9) - Tyler Geving's first season as head coach. At 13-12 overall, PSU's next win will match Geving's best season record (14-16 overall last year)... with six road wins (6-9), Geving already has his best total in that category (5-15, 4-11 the last two years)

ROAD RECOVERY: Portland State began the season with some real struggles on the road, losing eight straight road games (but winning two neutral site games). However, in the last month, the Vikings have won four out of six on the road, improving to 4-10 overall, 6-10 including the neutral site games.
• Now at 4-3 in Big Sky Conference road games, Portland State has its most Big Sky road wins since 2008-09.
• Only once in 16 seasons have the Vikings won more Big Sky road games (6-2 in 2007-08).
• In addition, at 6-10, Tyler Geving has his most away-from-home wins in three years as head coach (5-15 in 2009-10, 4-11 in 2010-11).

BIG SKY BEST: The Viking team leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal shooting (.485), and ranks second in scoring (76.1) and free throw percentage (.737)... SR F Chehales Tapscott leads the Big Sky Conference in rebounding (9.3), double-doubles (10), and blocked shots (1.4). He is third in steals (1.9)... SR C Nate Lozeau leads the Big Sky Conference in field goal shooting percentage (.584)... SR G Charles Odum ranks second in scoring (18.4). He is third in free throw percentage (.841)... in Big Sky Conference only games, the Vikings also lead in field goal shooting (.498)... Tapscott leads in blocked shots (1.8) and rebounding (9.8)... Odum averages 20.2 points to rank second.

HE CAN FILL UP A BOXSCORE: SR F Chehales Tapscott had what must have been one of the great all-around lines by a Viking ever against Sacramento State last Wednesday. In 28 minutes of play, Tapscott scored 17 points (5-8 FG, 1-1 3-pt, 6-6 FT), grabbed 11 rebounds, made a career-high five blocked shots, handed out three assists and made three steals, WITHOUT committing a turnover or a foul... Tapscott's five blocked shots were one off the school record. It also allowed him to leap from 10th to fifth on the all-time best season blocked shots list at Portland State (now 36).

THE BEST DEFENSE?: SR F Chehales Tapscott might be making a run at top defender in the Big Sky Conference this season. Tapscott currently leads the Big Sky in two of the three major defensive categories with 9.3 rebounds per game and 36 blocked shots. He is third in steals (49/1.9 pg)... in Big Sky games, Tapscott averages 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 2.2 steals... for good measure, Tapscott also ranks seventh in scoring (13.8), fifth in field goal percentage (.535), and 14th in free throw percentage (.740).

STRAIGHT SHOOTER: JR F Renado Parker has scored in double figures in his last four games (11.8 ppg), and for good reason - he is having trouble missing his shots. Parker is 21-28 over those four games (.750) and is now shooting .580 for the season... Parker was a perfect 6-6 against Sacramento State on Wednesday. He went 7-11 at Idaho on Saturday.

LIGHTS OUT: The Vikings have shot over .500 nine times this season and are 7-2 in those games... PSU has shot over .600 four times this year and are 4-0 in those games... PSU shot .673 (33-49) in a win over CSU Bakersfield (12/15). That was the best shooting by a Viking team in 66 games. The last time PSU shot better was a 33-48 (.688) performance against Eastern Washington on Dec. 5, 2009... the Vikings also missed just 16 shots in 40 minutes in a win over Sacramento State (85-67 on Feb. 15), going 30-46 (.652).

SHOOTING IS EVERYTHING FOR THIS TEAM: The Vikings are 13-1 when shooting a higher percentage than their opponents, 0-12 when opponents outshoot them.

2 VS. 3: Portland State is the league's best overall shooting (.485) and two-point shooting team (.549), while shooting just .332 from three-point range... the only other Big Sky team shooting .500 from two-point range is Weber State (.505).

NATIONAL RANKINGS: In NCAA statistics released on Monday, Portland State maintained some high rankings among the 338 Division I schools:
• 30th in scoring (76.1)
• 19th in field goal percentage (.485)
• 42nd in free throw percentage (.737)
• SR G Charles Odum ranks 30th in scoring (18.4)
• SR G Charles Odum ranks 44th in field goal percentage (.533)
• SR G Charles Odum ranks 58th in free throw percentage (.841)
• SR F Chehales Tapscott ranks 40th in rebounding (9.3)

FREE IS A GOOD PRICE: For the second year in a row, Portland State is doing a great job of getting to the free throw line. PSU has made more free throws than its opponents have attempted (PSU 452-613, .737; Opponents 330-446, .740), which is pretty good considering the Vikings have played more road games (16) than home games (10).

SCORING IN BUNCHES: SR G Charles Odum has scored 20 or more points 10 times this season - with nine of those coming on the road.
• Odum has scored 20+ in seven of the last 11 games, including a career-high 29 against Idaho State (1/16).
• In Odum's 20-point games, he is 76-128 from the field (.598), averaging 24.0 points and the Vikings are 6-4.
• Odum is averaging 20.2 points in league games.

GAME-WINNERS: Portland State has had two game-winning shots coming inside the final five seconds of games this season. On Nov. 15, SR F Chehales Tapscott hit a short jumper in the lane against Seattle with 4.6 seconds to play, giving the Vikings a 66-65 win... on Jan. 21, SR G Charles Odum made a 12-footer in the lane with two seconds left in overtime to beat Eastern Washington, 78-76.