Portland, OR – Khalid Thomas scored 19 of his career-high 25 points in the second half as Portland State pulled away from Simpson University for a comfortable 99-66 non-conference victory.
 
It was chilly outside, but hot inside for the Vikings as they scored a season-high in points, handed out a season-high 27 assists, and hit a season-high 14 three-point field goals. And, Portland State's bench production was the best of the season with 47 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists.
 
Portland State did everything well in this game, out-rebounding the Redhawks, 44-33, forcing them into 21 turnovers and committing only nine turnovers.
 
Thomas made 9-16 shots from the field, including 6-12 from three-point range. He added six rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Kyle Greeley came off the bench for a season-high 16 points, and career-highs of 10 rebounds and six assists. Jaden Nielsen-Skinner also had a big game off the bench with seven points, four rebounds, two steals and a career-high 11 assists – the most by a Viking in two seasons. Adding to the fun was Paris Dawson with 15 points and three steals.
 
Portland State took advantage of Simpson's zone defense early and often, scoring 52 points on 50% shooting in the first half. Nine Vikings scored in the half. Greeley and Nielsen-Skinner dominated the middle of the floor against the zone. Greeley had 10 points and four assists at the half, while Nielsen-Skinner totaled four points and six assists. In fact the bench had 25 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists by halftime.
 
The Redhawks were able to stay within reach by strong shooting of their own. They hit 16-28 from the field (.571), led by 18 points from Mason Johnson.
 
But Portland State cooled the Redhawks to only 9-27 from the field (.333) in the second half. A 16-3 run midway through the second-half, sparked by seven points from Thomas, broke it open for the Vikings. In fact, PSU outscored the Redhawks 33-9 over the final 11:11 of the game.
 
"I was very pleased with the contribution of everybody on the team," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "We really shared and moved the ball tonight. The guys were very unselfish and played the way we should have. We could have played better defensively, but they had a couple of guys make some tough shots."
 
Johnson finished with 21 points for Simpson. Dylan Banks added 15 points and five assists.
 
The Redhawks (1-6) agreed to come to Portland and face the Vikings on Tuesday after PSU's games at Northern Arizona were cancelled due to COVID-related issues in the NAU program.
 
The Vikings have won four of their last five games and are now 6-9 on the season. They return to Big Sky Conference play next week.
 
"It was a difficult week having games cancelled again and losing the momentum and mentality of playing league games. We are excited to get back on track next week facing Idaho," said Peery.

GAME NOTES: Elijah Hardy scored 11 points in 14 minutes off the bench… PSU is now 6-4 at home… this was the first meeting ever between these programs… Simpson was the ninth opponent in 15 that Portland State has held under 70 points... next Thursday the Vikings host the University of Idaho in a 7:05 p.m. game at Viking Pavilion.  The game can be seen on Pluto TV Channel 1051, www.Pluto.tv, www.WatchBigSky.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.