MONTANA STATE AT PORTLAND STATE
Saturday, February 2, 7:35 p.m. • Peter W. Stott Center (1,500), Portland, OR

PORTLAND STATE: 5-13 • Big Sky: 3-8 • Home: 5-3 • Road: 0-10
MONTANA STATE: 9-10 • Big Sky: 6-5 • Home: 8-2 • Road: 1-8

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: MSU leads 28-19 • PSU in Portland: 13-8
Big Sky Series: MSU leads 21-16 • PSU in Portland: 12-6
Jan. 3 in Bozeman: MSU 62, PSU 59

THE OPENING TIP
Portland State will try to stop a five-game losing streak this Saturday when it hosts third-place Montana State in a Big Sky Conference game at the Stott Center. Tip-off comes at 7:35 p.m. The game airs on Freedom 970 AM and www.freedom970.com. A live video stream is available at www.BigSkyTV.org.

The Vikings dropped an 81-68 decision to first-place Montana on Thursday night for their fifth straight loss. PSU is now 5-13 this season, 3-8 in the Big Sky and tied for 10th. With nine games remaining in the Big Sky schedule, PSU is a game-and-a-half out of seventh place. The top seven teams get into the Big Sky Conference Tournament (Mar. 14-16). The Vikings will play five of the final nine league games at home.

PSU's current five-game skid is its' second of the season. The last time a Viking team lost six in a row was Jan. 21-Feb. 11, 2006.

Montana State comes off a 72-68 loss at Eastern Washington on Thursday after shooting a mere 30% from the field. The Bobcats maintain third place in the Big Sky at 6-5. They are 9-10 overall, just 1-8 on the road.

MSU beat Portland State, 62-59, on Jan. 3 in Bozeman.

JAN 3 @ MSU 62, PSU 59: Portland State was down 14 with 7:35 to play, but tied the game with 3:05 left at 53-53... trailing by eight with 12 seconds left, Lateef McMullan hit a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around a steal. Dre Winston Jr. had a shot at the buzzer to tie, but missed... Aaron Moore had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while McMullan hit 5-9 three-pointers and scored 17... Flavien Davis scored 16 to lead MSU... PSU shot only .375 from the field, and .250 from three-point range.

THE BOBCATS: Montana State leads the all-time series with the Vikings, 28-19, and the Big Sky series, 21-16... the Vikings have a 4-0 advantage in Big Sky Tournament games... MSU has four Big Sky titles, two Big Sky Tournament titles, and three NCAA Tournament appearances to its credit... the Bobcats last won the Big Sky in 2002, and last reached March Madness in 1996... Christian Moon leads the Bobcats in scoring this season at 14.5 points per game... Xavier Blount (11.3), Antonio Biglow (10.4) and Flavien Davis (10.3) also average in double figures... the Bobcats force the most turnovers in the league (16.1), have the best turnover ratio (+3.8) and average 8.7 steals per game.

THE COACHES: Portland State Head Coach Tyler Geving has a 49-63 record in his fourth season. Geving has a 27-36 Big Sky Conference record and is 3-6 all-time against Montana State... Brad Huse is in his sixth season at Montana State and has a 79-100 record... in 14 years as a collegiate coach, Huse is 273-170... Huse is 7-7 all-time against the Vikings.

THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT: The top seven teams qualify for the Big Sky Conference Tournament in March. With a host of home games coming up, including five of the next seven conference games, the Vikings (3-8) have a chance to climb. Despite being tied for 10th, PSU is still just three games behind a third-place tie between MSU and Southern Utah (6-5), with the Bobcats coming to town.

HOT SHOTS: 
• JR F Aaron Moore set a new career-high for scoring (20) and blocked shots (4) at Eastern Washington on Monday. With 10 rebounds, Moore posted his fourth double-double of the season.
• SR PG Lateef McMullan has 61 assists and only 20 turnovers in the last 14 games. McMullan leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio in conference games (45/16).
• SO G Gary Winston is 13-22 from three-point range (.591) since moving into the starting lineup seven games ago.
• SR G Michael Harthun has made 13-23 threes (.565) over the last seven games.
• SR F Martin Whitmore scored 10 points (4-6 FG, 2-3 3-pt) with a career-high nine rebounds against Montana.
• PSU's bench was 10-13 from the field, scoring 24 points against Montana: SR F Michael Harvey (3-3, 1-1, 7 pts); SR F Martin Whitmore (4-6, 2-3 3-pt, 10 pts); JR C Lamont Prosser (3-4, 1-2, 7 pts).
• Portland State ranks 17th  in the nation in free throw shooting (.753).
• The Vikings shoot .516 from the field, .472 from three-point range, in the Stott Center.

NOT SO HOT: 
• As a team, the Vikings shoot .395 on the road, .317 from three-point range.
• SR G Lateef McMullan (1-12) and SR F Renado Parker (4-17) have combined to shoot just 5-29 in the last two games.
• Portland State is 0-10 on the road this season.
• The Vikings have lost five in a row overall.

ALL ABOUT THE SHOOTING: The Vikings have been a good-shooting home team, and a bad-shooting road team this season. The difference in home and road shooting statistics for the Vikings mirrors Portland State's home (5-3) and road (0-10) records. The Vikings shoot .516 from the field and .472 from three-point range at home. On the road, they shoot just .395 from the field and .317 from three-point range. The free throw shooting numbers are consistent at .752 at home and .754 on the road... the Vikings shot only .360 from the field at Southern Utah and .393 at Eastern Washington in their last two road games... not surprisingly, PSU has shot .565, .492, .532, .561 and .500 in its five wins this season... only twice have they shot better than .456 in a loss.

FIRST-HALF TREND CONTINUES: Portland State fell behind 10-2 in the first five minutes against Montana and trailed 39-31 at halftime. That continued the Vikings' habit of getting off to slow starts in games this season, then playing much better in the second half. The numbers prove it. PSU has been outscored 651-546 in the first half this year (36.2-30.3), but outscored opponents 661-632 in the second half (36.7-35.1)... a good start seems vital for the Vikings, as they are 0-12 when trailing at halftime, 4-1 when leading at halftime, 1-0 when tied.

THE DEFENSE SHOULD NOT REST: Head Coach Tyler Geving touted an improved defensive team for 2012-13, and the Vikings have had their moments this season. A strong effort against Idaho State (12/20) had the Vikings headed the right way. PSU held Idaho State to 49 points on Dec. 20, the fewest by an opponent in 34 games... the 71.8 points allowed is down from last year's 73.3 by opponents, but opponents are shooting .492 from the field and .394 from three-point range - both of which rank last in the Big Sky. 

WINSTON JR. OUT: SO G Dre Winston Jr. has missed two games this week with a left ankle sprain. Winston Jr. suffered the injury in the final minute of last week's loss at Southern Utah. Winston is expected to miss Montana State, and is questionable for next week.

MOORE, MOORE, MOORE: JR F Aaron Moore has likely been the Vikings' MVP this season, leading the team in scoring (12.4), rebounding (6.7), blocked shots (13) and shooting .519 from the field and .776 at the line...  Moore has posted four double-doubles and averaged 16 points in the last nine games... currently, Moore is seventh in field goal percentage, fourth in rebounding and 13th in free throw percentage in the Big Sky Conference...  Moore is one of only two Vikings in PSU's Big Sky history to post three straight double-doubles (Seamus Boxley)... he has led the team in scoring seven times and rebounding 11 times.

GOOD HANDLE: JR PG Lateef McMullan has turned in a remarkable stretch of ball handling over the last seven weeks, highlighted by his career-high nine assists with no turnovers against Sacramento State (1/10). In his last 14 games, McMullan has 61 assists against just 20 turnovers, a 3/1 ratio. For the season, his ratio is 66/29 (2.2 ast/to). He leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio in conference games (2.8/1). He is fourth overall in the Big Sky in assists... for the year, the 5-11 ball-handler averages 9.9 points and 3.7 assists. 

THUN-ING UP: SR G Michael Harthun has made 13-23 three-pointers (.565) in his last seven games... Harthun is averaging 10.7 points per game, up from 8.6 last year. Harthun is shooting .469 from the field, .426 from distance, and a team-best .821 at the line... he ranks 15th in field goal percentage and 11th in three-point percentage in the Big Sky Conference... Harthun shoots .500 from three-point range in conference games... Harthun currently maintains the fifth-best career three-point shooting percentage in school history at 74-174 (.425).

PARKER'S PART: SR F Renado Parker is third on the team in scoring (10.5) and second in rebounding (4.8) despite being hindered by a nagging ankle injury the last several weeks... Parker played three minutes at Northern Colorado, did not play at North Dakota, then came off the bench for 24 minutes at Southern Utah... he started and played 22 minutes at Eastern Washington, but was ineffective... Parker scored eight points with seven rebounds in 31 minutes against Montana... he has scored in double figures 10 times and led the team in scoring five times this season.

NICE COMEBACK: SO G Gary Winston has made a nice comeback from a nightmare shooting game at Montana State on Jan. 3. Winston was 0-9 in that game, 0-8 from three-point distance. In the seven games since, he is 28-57 from the field (.491) and 14-24 from three-point range (.583)... his .436 career three-point shooting ranks tied for second in PSU history, his .463 three-point shooting for the season also ranks second... Winston is second in the Big Sky in three-point shooting... Winston has moved into the starting lineup for the last seven games, averaging 9.4 points per game.

6TH MAN MOMENTS: Against Sacramento State (1/10), SR F Martin Whitmore scored a career-high 11 points (3-3 3-pt FG). Whitmore scored 10 points with a career-high nine rebounds on Thursday against Montana... JR C Lamont Prosser responded when SR F Renado Parker was injured at Northern Colorado (1/17) with six points and eight rebounds. On Thursday, Prosser had a career-high seven points and two blocked shots... SR F Michael Harvey had a perfect shooting game against Montana (3-3 FG, 1-1 FT), scoring seven points... SO C Brandon Cataldo had seven points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in a career-high 23 minutes at North Dakota (1/19), starting in place of SR F Renado Parker.