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Portland, OR - Portland State took one step closer to the Big Sky Conference Tournament by knocking off first-place Weber State, 66-59, at the Stott Center.

With the win, the Vikings improved to 15-13 on the season, 10-9 in the Big Sky. PSU is now in a three-way tie for fifth place with Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado as they vie to be one of seven teams to reach the tournament next week in Ogden, UT.

It will all be decided on Saturday night as the Vikings take on Idaho State (11-16, 8-11) in the Stott Center. If PSU wins, they are in. With a loss, the Vikings may have to resort to a tiebreaker to get into the tournament. As five teams still have a chance to finish at 10-10 in conference play, the possibilities abound (SEE STANDINGS BELOW).

"They've been resilient," said Coach Tyler Geving of his team, as it won for the fourth time in its last five outings. "We've got to have one more in us. We can't count on tiebreakers, we have to take care of it on Saturday night."

On this night the Vikings played one of their best games of the season and it was needed to beat the first-place Wildcats (16-11, 13-6). DaShaun Wiggins came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points, including a pair of big three-pointers late in the game. Gary Winston scored 18 points and had four assists for the Vikings.

The Wildcats made only one of their first nine shots in the contest as the Vikings pulled out to an early 9-2 lead. An Andre Winston Jr. steal and driving lay in had PSU up 25-9 at the 4:39 mark of the first half.

PSU took a 29-17 lead into halftime, holding Weber State to its fewest points in a half all year. Portland State had WSU completely flustered on offense. The Vikings forced 11 turnovers and shut down the Wildcat shooters. Weber State was only 5-22 from the field at that point.

Weber State came out of the locker room a completely different team, making five of their first six shots and tying the game at 31-31 with just under 16 minutes to play.

But Geving's Vikings weathered that storm and never gave up the lead.

"You knew they had a run in them because they were too good to play like that (on offense) the whole game. Obviously, it was a good win for us," said Geving.

Wiggins delivered the fatal blows to Weber State. With Vikings ahead 47-44 inside the four-minute mark, Wiggins hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. Suddenly, the Vikings were up by nine with 2:28 to play. Following a Weber State turnover, the Vikings broke the Wildcat press and it ended in a Kyle Richardson dunk. At 55-44, PSU was in control. 

The Vikings made 9-11 free throws in the final 90 seconds to hold on.

Portland State shot a pedestrian .438 from the field, but made 22-25 at the free throw line (.880). The Vikings held Weber State to just .383 overall and forced 18 turnovers in the game.

Richardson added 13 points, a team-high eight rebounds and blocked two shots for the Vikings.

Davion Berry led Weber State with 17 points. Joel Bolomboy grabbed 10 rebounds.

GAME NOTES: The Vikings are 11-5 at home this season… PSU has now beaten the first, second, and third-place teams in the Big Sky this season… the Viking win ended a nine-game losing streak to Weber State… Portland State plays its final home game on Saturday night at the Stott Center when it hosts Idaho State. Tip-off is 7:05 p.m. Live video, audio and stats are available at GoViks.com. Just click on the Game Day box.

Big Sky Conference Standings
Weber State, 13-6
Montana 12-7
North Dakota, 12-8
Northern Arizona, 11-8
Portland State, 10-9
Northern Colorado, 10-9
Eastern Washington, 10-9
Montana State, 9-10
Sacramento State, 9-10
Idaho State, 8-11
Southern Utah, 1-18