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Portland, OR – The triple threat that is Matt Hauser revealed itself in the Viking Pavilion on Friday night. The senior guard hit nine three-pointers - all of them needed - in leading Portland State to a 73-67 win over Cal State Northridge.
 
Hauser finished with a career-high and team season-high 29 points in the Viking victory. He made 9-16 threes, which ranks second-most for a game in Portland State history (Brian Towne, 12-16 vs. Idaho State, Feb. 7, 1998).
 
Hauser came to PSU as a graduate transfer to fill a glaring need on the Viking team; three-point shooting. Against CSUN, he delivered.
 
"I don't think anybody is surprised that Matt hit big shots. He is mature and experienced and that's what we brought him here for," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "He has been a great complement to our team, fitting in so well and so easily. For him to have a big night like that is well-deserved."
 
It wasn't just that Hauser made threes, it was the timing of his triples that meant the most. 
 
CSUN scored on its first five possessions and raced to a 12-2 lead. That meant PSU had to spend most of the first half digging itself out of a hole. But when Hauser hit a pair of three-pointers in an eight-point run he staked the Vikings to their first lead, 24-23, at the 7:51 mark of the half. 
 
Then, a Hauser three at the halftime buzzer tied the game at 36-36.
 
Portland State dropped behind by as many as six early in the second half. However, Hauser sparked a 12-2 Viking run and his sixth three-pointer of the night put the Vikings ahead 51-49 with 12:39 left. His seventh had the Vikings ahead 58-53 with just over nine minutes to play.
 
When CSUN pulled within two at 60-58, Hauser hit back-to-back three-pointers, numbers eight and nine on the night. That gave the Vikings their largest lead at 66-58 with 5:20 left in the game.
 
The Matadors stayed close down the stretch. Finally, a Viking three-pointer with 34 seconds left iced the game at 73-67 - this time from sophomore Ian Burke. 
 
In addition to Hauser's shooting, the Vikings can credit ferocious rebounding, particularly on the offensive end, in leading to this win. Despite playing without starting center Sal Nuhu for a fifth straight game, as well as starting forward Alonzo Walker, the under-sized Vikings won the glass battle, 48-35, and had 22 on the offensive end.
 
Senior forward Rashaad Goolsby cleaned the boards for the Vikings with 16 rebounds, added four assists, three steals and two blocked shots. 
 
"Our team was incredible on the glass, being so undersized. They were playing two bigs the whole time. We had four guards and a forward on the floor 99% of the time tonight, and we won the rebounding battle. Give credit to RG for another big rebounding night. He was awesome," said Peery.
 
That rebounding helped off-set some mediocre overall shooting. PSU was at .394 from the field for the game, while CSUN shot .433.
 
Holland "Boo Boo" Woods was the man finding Hauser for most of those long bombs as the junior point guard had 10 assists to go with 14 points. 
 
The bench play of Markus Golder, Lamar Hamrick and Burke was effective once again as those three combined for 20 points and 15 rebounds.
 
Portland State improved to 4-5 on the season with the win. The Vikings are now 2-1 at home. 

CSUN was led by 21 points from guard Terrell Gomez. Brendan Harrick added 18. The Matadors' two-game winning streak came to an end as they drop to 2-8.
 
GAME NOTES: Woods' 10 assists moves him to 404 on his career. He is just the second Viking in history with 400 career assists as he approaches Terry Adolph's record of 421… Woods also has 992 career points. He is about to become the 19th Viking in history to reach 1,000 career points… Hauser has a team-high 28 three-pointers on the season... Portland State will be off until next Thursday when the Vikings host Portland Bible in a 7:05 p.m. game at Viking Pavilion. The game will be live streamed on Pluto TV Channel 532, www.pluto.tv and www.WatchBigSky.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.