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Grand Forks, ND - The Vikings weren't letting it get away from them this time.

Just two days after giving up a late six-point lead in a loss at Northern Colorado, Portland State made sure to seal the deal at North Dakota. The Vikings never trailed against UND, pulling out an 82-75 road win in an afternoon contest at the Betty Englestad Center.

PSU was tough defensively in the first half, then executed offensively in the second-half, scoring 51 points after intermission on 58% shooting.

Braxton Tucker led the Vikings with a season-high 20 points, hitting several key jump shots, including a UND back-breaker in the final minute. Tucker made 10-15 shots from the field, scored 14 after halftime, and added six rebounds for good measure.

"Braxton is pretty good at that. He can knock that down," said Viking Coach Tyler Geving of his 6-6 forward's mid-range shooting game.

Also coming up big were senior forward Tiegbe Bamba, with a career-high 14 rebounds, and senior guard DaShaun Wiggins with 18 points, 13 coming after intermission. Bamba's 14 boards were the most by a Viking this season, and led PSU to a 41-27 advantage.

"The 14 rebounds were huge," said Geving. "Tiegbe came up with some big ones at the end when we needed them. But really all the guys stepped up tonight, whether it was Braxton or Wiggins or (Bryce) White."

Portland State will return home next week with an 8-6 record, 2-2 in the Big Sky Conference. PSU's win ended a two-game losing streak and five-game road losing streak.

Portland State got off to a fast start in the first five minutes, jumping to a 13-2 lead. The Vikings made six of their first nine shots, and were led by seven points from White.

The Vikings led by 11 on three occasions early in the half. But North Dakota chipped away to pull within two at 22-20. A 9-2 Viking run to close out the half and had PSU ahead 31-22.

Portland State managed the deliberate pace set by North Dakota, forcing UND into 9-25 first-half shooting (.360) and six turnovers. White led both team with 10 points in the half, hitting 4-5 shots from the field.

The pace quickened in the second half, but the Vikings were up to the task.

Tucker hit a jump shot and then put-back to open the half. That pushed the Viking lead to 35-22.

When Gary Winston and Wiggins hit back-to-back three-pointers, the Viking had were up 47-33 with 14:37 to play. The lead stayed at double digits for most of the rest of the way.

North Dakota made it interesting though. PSU led by 10 with just over two minutes to play, but UND briefly cut it down to 75-73 with 1:08 to go.

That's when Tucker came up big again, hitting an 18-foot jumper with 39.4 seconds left giving PSU a 77-73 edge. Wiggins made a steal with 24 seconds to play and the Vikings were able to tack on five free throws in the closing seconds.

For the second straight game PSU shot it well finishing at 30-58 from the field, a .517 mark. PSU shot a sub-par .654 at the free throw line, but the rebounding advantage, including 12 on the offensive glass, made up for it.

White finished the game with 12 points for the Vikings. Junior center Collin Spickerman had perhaps his best outing as a Viking with a season-high eight points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Quinton Hooker led North Dakota with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. UND shot .474 from the field and .655 at the line.

North Dakota falls to 5-10, 1-3 on the season.

GAME NOTES:
• The win was Portland State's first ever at North Dakota in four tries. UND still leads the all-time series, 6-2.
• The game was the first meeting between the schools since North Dakota knocked off Portland State last season in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals last spring.
• In addition to scoring 18 points, Wiggins had five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
• PSU is now 5-1 in close games this season (decided by eight points or less).
• PSU is 5-1 at home, 3-5 on the road.
• Portland State returns home for a Thursday night game with Eastern Washington. Tip off is 7:05 p.m. Live video, audio and stats for both games are available at GoViks.com by clicking on the Game Day Box.