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Cheney, WA – A rousing comeback in the closing moments came up just short as Portland State lost a Big Sky Conference game, 71-69, at Eastern Washington's Reese Court.
 
The Vikings trailed by 10 inside the final two minutes, but made a number of key plays to mount the comeback.
 
Eastern Washington was ahead 71-61 on a Mason Peatling lay-in with 2:08 left in the game. Then the PSU rally started when Sal Nuhu dunked off a Holland Woods drive with 1:35 left. When the teams traded empty possessions it appeared the Vikings were done. However, Markus Golder made a steal and followed it with a three-pointer to make the score 71-66 with 58 seconds left.
           
The Eagles' Tyler Robertson was fouled and missed his ensuing free throw. Golder rebounded and the Vikings raced upcourt. This time, Matt Hauser buried a three-pointer and it was 71-69 with 44.5 seconds to play.
           
The Vikings played defense and it paid off. Eagles' leading scorer Jacob Davison committed a charging foul with 21 seconds left. Hauser's three-pointer missed this time, but still the Vikings had a chance.
 
Eastern's Mason Peatling missed a foul shot with 4.2 seconds left. Again the Vikings rebounded but were unable to get the ball upcourt for a tying or winning shot.
 
For their part, the Vikings held the nation's second-highest scoring team (87.1 ppg) to 71 points. But PSU was under 70 points for the second game in a row, hitting only .387 from the field and .571 at the free throw line.
 
Portland State has now lost three games in a row by a combined 15 points. PSU is 7-9 on the season, 1-3 in the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles improved to 9-5 on the season, 2-1 in the Big Sky. Eastern is 6-0 at home this season.
 
The Vikings led the majority of the first half, going ahead by as many as 12 points at 26-14. Eastern Washington switched to a zone defense for most of the remainder of the half and it seemed to make a difference. The Vikings made only one field goal in the last six minutes and the Eagles crept within 32-30 by halftime.
 
The second half was a see-saw affair. The lead changed hands 13 times with four ties over the first 12 minutes of the half. That's when Davison scored eight points in a 15-7 run to create separation for the Eagles. Peatling scored six points inside as the run extended to 23-11 and put the Eagles up 71-61 inside of two minutes.
 
Woods scored 22 points with seven assists to lead the Vikings. Golder had season-highs of 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots. Nuhu added 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Eagles shot 30-61 (.492) from the field, hitting over 56% of their shots in the second half.
 
Davison scored 26 points to lead all scorers. Peatling added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Kim Aiken Jr. added 15 points and 15 rebounds.
 
GAME NOTES: Portland State is now 2-7 on the road… the Vikings have lost five straight at Reese court… the Eagles now take the lead in the Big Sky Conference series over PSU, 25 wins to 24… Lamar Hamrick did not play for the Vikings due to a sore back… Portland State is off for a week. The Vikings return to action next Saturday at Montana State. That game tips off at 5 p.m. PT. It will be live streamed on Pluto TV Channel 538, www.pluto.tv and www.WatchBigSky.com. It also airs on SWX TV in Montana.