NORTHERN ARIZONA AT PORTLAND STATE 
Saturday, January 12, 2013, 7:35 p.m. • Peter W. Stott Center (1,500), Portland, OR

PORTLAND STATE: 4-8 • Big Sky: 2-3 • Home: 4-2 • Road: 0-6
NORTHERN ARIZONA: 5-10 • Big Sky: 2-3 • Home: 3-3 • Road: 2-7

Television: None
Radio: Freedom 970 AM, www.freedom970.com • Play-by-play: Tom Hewitt • Pregame Show: 7 p.m.
Live Video: www.BigSkyTV.org • Live Stats: http://vikslive.statb.us

All-Time Series: PSU leads 21-17 • PSU is 14-4 in Portland
Big Sky Series: PSU leads 19-16 • PSU 13-4 in Portland
Last Year: PSU 82-62 at PSU; PSU 76-65 at NAU

THE OPENING TIP
Portland State will try to make it two in a row at home when it hosts Northern Arizona in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday at the Stott Center. Game time is 7:35 p.m. A live video stream is available at www.BigSkyTV.org. The radio call is at Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com.

PSU (4-8, 2-3) can climb over NAU (5-10, 2-3) in the Big Sky standings with a win. The Vikings are 4-2 at home this season after an impressive 87-69 win over Sacramento State (7-6, 2-3) on Thursday. Five Vikings scored in double figures, led by 18 points from Michael Harthun. The senior guard hit a pair of three-pointers in a second-half stretch in which PSU made seven threes in a row to blow open the game.

Another home win will be key to PSU's Big Sky prospects as the Vikings will go on the road for four straight after Saturday's game.

Northern Arizona comes off an 82-59 loss at Eastern Washington on Thursday. The Lumberjacks have dropped five of their last six games. NAU has Big Sky home wins over Montana State and Sacramento State this season.

PSU vs. NAU LAST YEAR: Portland State swept last year's season series with the Lumberjacks, ending a four-game losing streak to NAU. The Vikings shot 62% in an 82-62 win in Portland. Four Vikings were in double figures, and PSU forced 23 NAU turnovers... five Vikings were in double figures in a 76-65 win in Flagstaff. PSU shot 55% and Charles Odum led the way with 20 points.

THE COACHES: Portland State Head Coach Tyler Geving has a 48-58 record in his fourth season. Geving has a 26-31 Big Sky Conference record. He is 2-4 all-time against the Lumberjacks... Jack Murphy is in his first season at Northern Arizona and has a 5-10 record.

THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona has won four Big Sky Conference regular season championships, two Big Sky Tournament titles and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament during its Big Sky history... the 'Jacks come off a 5-24 season in 2011-12, placing last in the Big Sky at 1-15... Head Coach Jack Murphy was hired in the off-season to take over the program... three starters and eight letterwinners return from last year... freshman guard DeWayne Russell has been a sensation for NAU, leading the Big Sky Conference in scoring (16.6 ppg) and steals (2.3 spg). He also averages a team-leading 3.6 assists per game... senior guard Gabe Rogers averages 14.3 points per game and has a team-leading 34 three-pointers. However, he is shooting only .306 from the field and .276 from three-point distance... junior forward Max Jacobsen ranks second in the Big Sky in shooting at .591 from the field while scoring 8.3 points per game... NAU is allowing 77.3 points per game and is out-rebounded by 5.4 per night.

COMING UP: Portland State will travel for four straight games, not playing at home again until Jan. 31 against Montana. The Vikings play at Northern Colorado (Jan. 17), North Dakota (Jan. 19), Southern Utah (Jan. 24) and Eastern Washington (Jan. 28) over the next two weeks... PSU's meetings at North Dakota and Southern Utah will be the first Big Sky confrontations with the first-year league members. PSU has not played North Dakota since 1980 (2-0) and has not faced Southern Utah since 1969 (1-0).

FAST BREAKS
• Portland State scored a season-high 87 points, hitting a season-best 12 three-pointers in the win over Sacramento State. The Vikings also had season-highs of 25 assists and seven blocked shots.
• In his last four games, JR F Aaron Moore has three double-doubles and is averaging 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He posted career-high totals of 19 points and 10 rebounds against Weber State. Against Montana State, he logged 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. That was followed by 14 points and 11 rebounds at Montana. Then 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block against Sacramento State.
• SR PG Lateef McMullan turned in a brilliant 14 point (5-8 FG, 3-5 3-pt FG, 1-2 FT), nine assist, zero turnover performance against Sacramento State. He has 40 assists and only nine turnovers in the last eight games.
• SO C Brandon Cataldo tied a career-high with four blocked shots, scored eight points and had two rebounds in 13 minutes against the Hornets.
• SR G Martin Whitmore posted a career-high 11 points (3-3 3-pt FG, 2-2 FT) with two rebounds and a steal in 10 minutes against Sacramento State.
• SR G Michael Harthun scored a season-high 18 points (7-11 FG, 4-5 3-pt FG) against the Hornets, tieing his career-high with four three-pointers.
• With just seven turnovers against Sacramento State, Portland State has averaged only 8.8 turnovers per game over the last six games.
• The Vikings shoot .526 from the field, .475 from three-point range, in the Stott Center.
• PSU leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio in conference games (69/46 - 1.5 ast/to), while Lateef McMullan leads individually (24/5 - 4.8 ast/to).

ALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING: The collective shooting eye of the Portland State Vikings returned on Thursday night against Sacramento State. The result was a relatively easy win, 87-69, over the Hornets. PSU shot .561 from the field, including 12-18 from three-point range... PSU had a poor shooting performance last week at Montana State and Montana. The results? Two losses. The Vikings shot only .375 from the field and .250 from three-point range, and still lost by just three points (62-59) to Montana State and seven to Montana (62-55)... not surprisingly, PSU has shot .565, .492, .532 and .561 in its four wins this season, but not better than .456 in any loss.

HOME AND ROAD? NIGHT AND DAY: The difference in home and road shooting statistics for the Vikings mirrors Portland State's home (4-2) and road (0-6) records. The Vikings shoot .526 from the field and .475 from three-point range at home. On the road, they shoot just .394 from the field and .287 from three-point range. The free throw shooting numbers are consistent at .735 at home and .745 on the road.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE SHOOTING?: Although the Vikings did shoot .456 against Weber State, just slightly better shooting in any of PSU's three league losses likely would have meant a “W”. Though the Vikings are 2-3 in the Big Sky, they lost to the top two teams (Montana, Weber State in OT), and the three losses are by a combined 14 points.

BALANCE? YUP: Portland State expected a more balanced offensive attack this season after scoring stars Charles Odum and Chehales Tapscott graduated. As it happens, five Vikings are averaging between nine and 12 points per game. And, all five have led the team in scoring three times each (including ties): Renado Parker, Michael Harthun, Aaron Moore, Lateef McMullan and Dre Winston.

HALL WILL REDSHIRT: After dealing with a nagging calf injury all season, it has been decided this week that JR G Marcus Hall will take a medical redshirt season. Hall has missed four games and played limited minutes in several others due to the injury which occured in the preseason. Hall was averaging 3.5 points in 11.5 minutes per game. He has played in eight games, which is less than one-third of the season schedule and will allow him to redshirt.

MOORE, MOORE, MOORE: JR F Aaron Moore has played as well as any Viking this season and is in the midst of a hot stretch. In his last four games, Moore has posted three double-doubles and is averaging 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.... he had career-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds against Weber State (12/22), followed by 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds at Montana State, then 14 points and 11 rebounds at Montana. His performance against Sacramento State was as good as any with 16 points, six rebounds, three steals, three assists and a blocked shot... currently, Moore is third in field goal percentage (.552) and fourth in rebounding (7.2) in the Big Sky Conference. He averages 10.9  points and shoots .758 at the line... he ranks second in the Big Sky in league games at 9.2 rebounds per contest.

GOOD HANDLE: JR PG Lateef McMullan has turned in a remarkable stretch of ball handling over the last month, highlighted by his career-high nine assists with no turnovers against Sacramento State. In his last eight games, McMullan has 40 assists against just nine turnovers. For the season, his ratio is 45/18 (2.5 ast/to). That ranks second-best in the Big Sky Conference. He is fifth in the Big Sky in assists... McMullan also scored 14 points in the win over the Hornets for one of his best games of the year... McMullan has averaged 13.4 points and 5.1 assists in the last seven games... for the year, the 5-11 ball-handler averages 10.3 points and 3.8 assists... he shoots a team-best .800 at the free throw line. 

THUN-ING UP: SR G Michael Harthun's season-high 18 points on Thursday was a welcome effort. Harthun shot it well, hitting 7-11 from the field and 4-5 from three-point range. His increased production this season has been - and will be - vital to the Vikings' success. He is averageing 10.9 points per game, up from 8.6 last year. Harthun is shooting .489 from the field, .395 from distance, and .786 at the line this year... he ranks 10th in field goal percentage and 11th in three-point percentage in the Big Sky Conference.

BENCH PRODUCTION: In addition to excellent shooting, Viking Head Coach Tyler Geving was happy to see increased bench production from the Vikings against Sacramento State, especially in light of having to redshirt JR G Marcus Hall. Geving got a career-high 11 points from SR G Martin Whitmore (3-3 3-pt FG), a career-best four blocked shots and eight points from SO C Brandon Cataldo, and four points, four assists and solid defense from SO G Dre Winston.