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Portland, OR - Traylin Farris scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to spark the Portland State Vikings to an 83-76 Big Sky Conference victory over Sacramento State.

Farris, a junior post, hit 5-9 from the field and 9-11 at the line, and also snared a season-high 13 rebounds. He led five Vikings in double figures as PSU improved to 9-5 on the season, 2-1 in the Big Sky. 

"Traylin was big. He is turning into a good low-post presence for us," said Viking Coach Tyler Geving. "When you aren't making shots, you have to have someone you can dump it in to. It was nice to see him do that."

It was a tight game for the first 31 minutes as neither team led by more than four points. There were 15 ties and 14 lead changes over that span. A three-point play by Deontae North with 9:19 left gave the Vikings the lead for good at 59-58. It was part of a 16-4 PSU run in which Farris scored six. That had the Vikings up 70-60 with 6:19 remaining. 

Sacramento State came back with an 11-2 run of its own, but the Vikings never surrendered the lead. Three-pointers by Calaen Robinson and Bryce Canda inside the final two minutes held the Hornets off.

The Vikings forced Sac State into nine turnovers in the second half and 14 for the game. PSU scored 17 points off turnovers as its transition game was effective once again.

PSU shot 28-53 from the field (.528) while the Hornets were a solid 25-50 (.500). In fact, the Hornets came into the game shooting only .265 from three-point range, but stayed in it with some long shots. They hit 8-13 from distance (.615) overall.

"That was keeping them in the game," said Geving. "We were giving them the three and you can't let them line it up in college basketball. I think more than anything our defensive intensity picked up the last eight minutes of the game."

Canda and North each scored 15 points for Portland State. Zach Gengler scored 14 and Robinson had 11 with five assists.

The Vikings also felt good about a bounce-back performance at the line, making 18-23 (.783) after a shoddy 4-21 performance in last Saturday's loss to Northern Colorado.

Sacramento State got 25 points in a stellar game from forward Justin Strings. Eric Stuteville had 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Hornets lost their fourth in a row and are now 3-11 overall, 0-3 in the Big Sky.

The game was played on a snowy night in Portland in front of a sparse crowd due to weather conditions. Other sporting events in the city were cancelled, but PSU went ahead with the game due to the fact that both teams, officials and game operations were already available to go on. The rescheduling of a conference game would have been challenging and costly for both schools. Fans were encouraged to stay home in social media announcements (and most did).

GAME NOTES: Portland State has now won six of its last seven games, and eight of the last 10... PSU is 6-1 at home... Portland State goes on the road next week, playing at Northern Arizona (Thursday) and Southern Utah (Saturday). Live video and audio can be found at GoViks.com and live stats will be available at ViksLive.com.