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Portland, OR – Portland State made the most of a mismatch routing Portland Bible, 123-40, at the Viking Pavilion.
 
Robert McCoy led seven Vikings in double figures with 26 points and eight rebounds. He was a catalyst for a Viking team that put some fresh ink in the record book. Portland State set new school marks for turnovers forced (43), steals (31) and margin of victory (83).
 
Other Vikings with big nights included: Sal Nuhu with 17 points on 8-8 from the field in just 10 minutes; Michael Nuga with 16 points and seven rebounds; Rashaad Goolsby with 13 points and eight rebounds; Derek Brown with 12 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals; and Deante Strickland with eight assists and a school-record nine steals.
 
The win improved Portland State to 4-3 on the season as they look ahead to a rugged remainder of non-conference play, beginning with University of Portland on Wednesday in the Pavilion, followed by a road game at BYU.
 
"The team is still growing and learning," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "But it really starts next week. We have a tough December coming up. Four out of five at home is nice but every game is a real challenging opponent."
 
The Vikings never trailed in the game against the National Christian College Athletic Association member, but they were ahead just 14-7 after seven minutes of play. PSU finally got comfortable after a 24-2 run midway thought the first half. Nuhu had seven points over that five-minute stretch. The 6-8 post was 7-7 from the field by halftime and had 15 points. McCoy was 6-6 and had 17 points.
 
Portland State was up 65-18 at the break and dominated the game in every way. The Vikings made 24-40 from the field (.600) and had a 24-12 advantage on the boards. Most conspicuous though was the number of turnovers forced. The Wildcats committed 25 turnovers, while getting up only 22 shots (making seven). PSU had 32 points off those turnovers.
 
The second half looked much like the first as PSU's pressure continued to rattle the Wildcats.
 
The Vikings finished 47-80 from the field (.588) and looked a lot better than they had in previous games shooting the three-point shot.
 
"I was very happy with our shot selection," said Peery. "I was miserable about our shot selection at Stanford in a close game (on Wednesday). We shot 7-16 from three tonight and I thought we took the right ones, so I was pleased with that."
 
PSU had a 53-20 advantage overall on the backboards and scored 58 points off turnovers. Most of all, the Vikings got playing time, as everyone available played at least 10 minutes with the exception of Juwan Williams, who sat out the second half with a mild ankle sprain. PSU also rested point guard Holland Woods, who took a hard fall in the Stanford game.
 
"I think we benefited from being able to rest a couple of guys and get a couple of guys out on the court and we got everybody a lot of minutes," Peery said.
Durham Rosser led Portland Bible (0-9) with 23 points and six rebounds.
 
GAME NOTES: The Vikings have won 35 straight games against lower division schools. They are 47-1 against lower division schools since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996... Portland State beat Portland Bible 125-50 last season, setting previous marks for margin of victory (75), turnovers forced (38) and steals (27)... the Vikings host the University of Portland on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available at 1-888-VIK-TIKS or www.GoViks.com. The game will be live stream on Pluto TV Channel 232 and www.WatchBigSky.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.