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Portland State University Athletics

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS
Stewart022016
Steve Brenner
Donivine Stewart dishes off one of his eight assists against Eastern Washington. He also had 15 points, six rebounds and four steals.
91
Eastern Washington EWU 16-11, 10-5
107
Winner Portland State PSU 9-16, 5-9
Eastern Washington EWU
16-11, 10-5
91
Final
107
Portland State PSU
9-16, 5-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Eastern Washington EWU 34 57 91
Portland State PSU 54 53 107

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | by Mike Lund

Vikings' Shooting Barrage Buries Eagles, 107-91

Boxscore - HTM | PDF
 

Portland, OR - It is said that turnabout is fair play, and so the Portland State Vikings were within their rights to things up on the Eastern Washington Eagles in Saturday's 107-91 win at the Stott Center.

 

Less than a month after the Vikings gave up 112 points in a loss to the Eagles in Cheney, PSU came back to hang a C-note on the hottest team in the Big Sky Conference.

 

Cameron Forte led a brilliant effort by the Vikings, scoring 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the game. Forte hit 14-20 shots from the field.

 

Forte's accuracy led a shooting barrage for the Vikings as they finished 44-68 from the field for a season-best .647 percentage. Five Vikings were in double figures with Calaen Robinson coming off the bench for 18 points (6-11 FG), Isaiah Pineiro scoring 15 points (6-8 FG), Donivine Stewart getting 13 (6-8 FG) and Zach Gengler 11 (5-9 FG).

 

Portland State's win was an upset as Eastern (16-11, 10-5) had won seven games in a row. The Vikings  (9-16, 5-9) also ended their own four-game losing streak.

 

Viking Coach Tyler Geving looked like a mad genius with his game plan, starting one player who had not played in the previous two games, giving big minutes to another who had seen only 18 minutes all season, and sitting two others that had started the previous game. And, defying convention, the Vikings pushed the ball as quickly as they could against the league's highest-scoring team.

 

"We did a good job of doing what they do; drive at them, spread them out and turn it into a scoring contest," said Geving. "And then we did a good job of getting stops when we had to. The guys did a good shooting the ball."

 

Portland State made its first eight shots, jumping to a 17-11 lead through five minutes. The Vikings went on to make 18 of their first 25 shots (72%), and raced to a 37-23 advantage. Forte had 12 points and Gengler had nine during the Vikings' offensive blitz.

 

By halftime the numbers were startling as the Vikings had made 24-35 shots (.686) on the way to a 54-34 lead. PSU's frantic defense made eight steals, forcing 11 Eastern turnovers. Stewart had four of the eight steals and five assists, while Gengler also had seven assists by halftime.

 

The Vikings got the lead as high as 22 early in the second half, but that just meant Eastern Washington had a lot of time to come back. Point guard Austin McBroom, the Big Sky's leading scorer, led the charge for the Eagles, scoring 27 of his 36 points after intermission.

 

Eastern was able to chip away and when Cody Benzel hit a three-pointer at the 7:17 mark the Eagles had pulled within 87-77. But the Vikings stopped the bleeding with a 7-1 run over the next two minutes.

 

Little-used Montie Leunen, who had appeared in just six games all season, did a stellar job defensively inside despite being undersized. He played 17 minutes, scoring five points with two rebounds and a steal.

 

"We decided to go small against (the Eagles), and that's why we didn't play (center Collin) Spickerman," said Geving. "We stuck Leunen in there and he was really good. Calaen was good tonight, Khari (Holloway) - who hasn't played - did a good job defending and moving the ball. It was good to get that kind of production off the bench."

 

Making his first start, Holloway also had five points, two rebounds and three steals in the game.

 

After a tough couple of weeks, Geving was just thrilled his team responded with a win against such a formidable opponent. "They deserve it. They have had good attitudes and worked hard. Nobody has been hanging their heads."

 

Portland State finished with 13 steals in the game and out-rebounded the Eagles 35-27. The 107 points scored were the second-most in PSU's 20-year Big Sky Conference history.

 

Eastern Washington shot 50% from the field and 81% at the free throw line but it just wasn't good enough.

 

GAME NOTES: It was Portland State's third 100-point game of the season, but the first against a Division I opponent since beating Lamar 102-98 on Nov. 20, 2010… PSU is 6-6 at home this season… the Vikings have won 13 of the last 17 over Eastern Washington… Portland State started its 11th different starting lineup in 25 games. Isaiah Pineiro and Cameron Forte stared at forward with Donivine Stewart, Zach Gengler and Khari Holloway starting at guard… PSU lost at Eastern Washington on Jan. 28, 112-83… Portland State goes on the road next week to play at North Dakota and Northern Colorado. Live video, audio and stats are available at www.GoViks.com.



 
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