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Portland, OR – A powerful rebounding and defensive effort provided what Portland State needed to get by a stubborn Sacramento State team, 65-57, at Viking Pavilion.
 
The two teams provided a contrast in styles. The Vikings prefer the up-tempo, while the Hornets like the half-court game. To Sacramento State's credit, they were able to get the game played at the pace they wanted. To Portland State's credit, they showed they could play that way too.
 
The Vikings out-rebounded the Hornets, 40-33, tied a school record with 10 blocked shots, and shot just well enough to pull out their fourth victory in a row. In fact, PSU's 65 points were its fewest in a winning effort in 148 games, dating back to November 2014, showing just how vital its defense was.
 
Portland State moved to 8-8 in Big Sky Conference play, 13-14 overall with the win. It was the sixth straight win at home for PSU. Most important, the Vikings are now only one game behind a fourth-place tie between Eastern Washington and Montana State (both 9-7). The top five teams in the Big Sky Conference will receive first-round bye at the Big Sky Championship Tournament.
 
Sacramento State imposed its will on the Vikings early. A 12-0 run midway through the first half had the Hornets in front 26-20.
 
Jamie Orme brought the Vikings back with two big plays. The senior forward hit a three-point field goal, then followed with a fastbreak dunk-and-one to highlight a 9-1 run. The Vikings went into halftime ahead 36-31.
 
PSU's largest lead was 12 at 47-35. The Hornets drew back within four, before the Vikings pulled out to a 60-49 advantage with 2:58 to play. In the final five minutes, PSU nursed the lead with its own form of ball control. At one point the Vikings held the ball for a 1:29 on the clock after twice grabbing offensive rebounds on the same possession.
 
"Everybody has a different style of play and wants you to do different things," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "Nobody wants to come in here and let us run up and down on our home court. Sacramento State did a good job dictating the tempo, especially in the first half, slowing us down in the middle of the half. We got the gap at halftime and built on it just enough."
 
Portland State's offensive numbers were mediocre, shooting 22-55 from the field (.400) and 15-22 at the free throw line (.682). But the rebound and shot blocking advantages were huge. The Vikings held the Hornets to only 19-53 from the field (.358) and 2-11 (.182) from three-point range.
 
"We really protected the rim with the 10 blocks tonight," said Peery. "We have brought in guys who are long, lengthy guys and they did a good job of changing shots. We knew we needed to be tougher in the paint in every way tonight. There were a lot of tough rebounds to get, a lot of tough stops to get around the rim, because Sacramento State pounds it down there so much."
 
Hornets' scoring leader Marcus Graves was held to only 2-15 from the field and finished with 11 points. He was averaging 16.5 points entering the game.
 
"We did a fantastic job on Graves, who is just a flat-out good player in this league. We made things hard on him, because he is really the guy that makes him go," said Peery.
 
Viking center Sal Nuhu had a big night with 12 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. Jamie Orme and Holland Woods added 11 points. Deante Strickland had another big night off the bench with seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Sacramento State was led by 12 points from Joshua Patton. Graves added six assists and five rebounds.
 
The Hornets, who had won three of four games, dropped to 12-13 on the season, 6-10 in the Big Sky Conference.
 
GAME NOTES: Portland State is now 10-4 at home this season. The four-game winning streak is the longest of the season… Sacramento State beat the Vikings 78-67 on Feb. 11 in Sacramento… Portland State goes on the road next, playing at Idaho on Thursday, then Eastern Washington on Saturday. Both games will be live streamed on Pluto TV and www.WatchBigSky.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.