boxscore

Greeley, CO - Northern Colorado jumped on Portland State from the start and never let up, handing the Vikings a 67-50 Big Sky Conference loss at Butler-Hancock Pavilion.

UNC's Tate Unruh scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half as the Bears put on an early shooting display and put the contest out of reach.

The loss ended a mini two-game winning streak by the Vikings, whose road woes continue. PSU is now 5-9 on the season, 3-4 in the Big Sky Conference. The team is 0-7 in road games.

Northern Colorado's win stops a five-game losing streak. The Bears are 4-11 this season, 2-5 in the Big Sky.

As has been common this season, the Vikings got off a slow start, trailing 14-2 five minutes into the game. That extended to 28-6 in the first 10 minutes, with Unruh scoring 11. UNC made 10 of its first 13 shots, including 5-6 from three-point range. Meanwhile the Vikings opened just 3-16 from the field.

The deficit grew to 27 at 39-12 late in the first half. By halftime, it was a 47-22 Bears' lead. UNC made 19-32 shots in the half (59%) to 8-31 for the Vikings (26%). Unruh had 16 points, including 6-7 from the field and 4-4 from three-point range.

The closest the Vikings could get in the second half was the final score.

Portland State entered the game shooting just 39% on the road. That trend continued as they were 19-56 from the field (34%). Northern Colorado finished at 25-53 (47%).

"We need to come out with a little bit better energy and effort," said Coach Tyler Geving. "We need to fix our starts because our starts are not very good. On the road, it catches up with you."

Portland State was basically without leading scorer and second-leading rebounder Renado Parker, but his presence likely would not have made the difference. Parker, who averages more than 12 points and five rebounds per game, had a tender ankle. He started but was only able to play three minutes before coming out for good.

Aaron Moore led the Vikings with nine points and three assists. Lamont Prosser came off the bench for a team-leading eight rebounds.

GAME NOTES: Lamont Prosser and Brandon Cataldo picked up the minutes left by the injury to Parker. Prosser had six points and eight rebounds. Cataldo played a career-high  21 minutes, scoring six points with two blocked shots… PSU had its lowest point total since scoring 49 against Oregon on Dec. 5, 2010… the Vikings move on to play at North Dakota on Saturday. It will be an early start as the game tips off at 2 p.m. local time, noon on the west coast. The pre-game radio show can be heard on Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com beginning at 11:30 a.m.