Portland State University Athletics

Boxscore – HTM | PDF
 
Provo, UT – A career-high 30 points by Cougar guard TJ Haws led BYU to a decisive 85-66 victory over Portland State at the Marriott Center.
 
Haws sparked a 16-0 first-half run, then hit key back-to-back three-pointers in the second half as Portland State was making a run. Haws made 9-15 from the floor, 5-10 three-pointers, 7-9 free throws and dished off five assists.
 
Meanwhile, the Vikings found themselves struggling to shoot the ball in a road game once again. PSU entered the game with a .348 field goal percentage in games away from the Viking Pavilion. On this night, they made only 21-67 (.313), nullifying another huge advantage in rebounding (56-32) over an opponent.
 
BYU also turned the tables on the Vikings in the ball-handling department. PSU coughed the ball up 21 times which led to 32 points by BYU. Meanwhile, the Cougars had only 12 turnovers.
 
Senior guard Derek Brown led the Vikings with 14 points. Junior center Sal Nuhu had another strong game off the bench with 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
BYU handled the Vikings pressure extremely well. PSU had been forcing over 21 turnovers per game. The Cougars did not make one for the first 10 minutes of the game. That allowed them to edge out to a lead they would never relinquish.
 
Still, the Vikings trailed only 22-21 after a Nuhu jumper at the 9:39 mark of the first half. But the Cougars ran off 16 straight points, including 10 from Haws. That had PSU down 38-21 at the 5:31 mark of the half. BYU went into halftime with a 45-32 lead.
 
BYU's lead was as many as 18 early in the second half. A mini-run by the Vikings had them back within 55-48 at the 12:42 mark. That's when Haws answered with back-to-back three-pointers to put BYU up 61-48. The Cougars' advantage never dipped below double digits for the remainder of the game.
 
BYU was 29-61 from the field (.475) and made 7-21 three-pointers (.333). The Vikings hit only 5-24 (.208) from long range.
 
Yoeli Childs added 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for the Cougars.
 
Portland State dropped to 5-4 on the season with the loss. PSU had won its previous two games. The Vikings are 0-3 in road games, 1-4 in all away games.
 
BYU improved to 8-4 on the year, 7-1 at home.
 
GAME NOTES: Holland Woods led the Vikings with five assists… Michael Mayhew and Vonte Carter returned to the active roster for the Vikings… Michael Nuga did not play in the game after suffering a sprained toe in practice… PSU now returns home for the next three games. It begins with a contest against Loyola Marymount on Saturday night. Tip-off at the Viking Pavilion is 7:05 p.m. The game will be live streamed on Pluto TV Channel 232, pluto.tv and www.WatchBigSky.com. PSU opens CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 20, then opens Big Sky Conference play with Northern Colorado on Dec. 31.