Moscow, ID – An explosive second-half performance by Portland State led the Vikings to a fourth straight win, 71-40, over Idaho at Memorial Gym.
 
The Vikings turned a ho-hum four-point, first-half advantage into an exciting runaway second half, out-scoring the Vandals 43-16 after intermission. The 40 points allowed were the fewest by a Division I opponent since Portland State joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996-97.
 
PSU has now won four straight games, six of the last seven, and leapt up the Big Sky standings. The Vikings opened the week in 10^th place, by with two wins are now 5-5 in league play and in sixth place. Portland State is 8-9 overall.
 
Senior guard James Scott led the Vikings in scoring for the second game in a row with 16 points, five assists and four steals. Sophomore center Jacob Eyman added 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots inside.
 
Portland State's offense continued to produce as it has in recent weeks. The Vikings shot 28-61 from the field (.459), making 11-25 (.440) from three-point range. PSU out-rebounded the Vandals, 39-28, and forced another 20 turnovers for 28 points.

PSU led just 28-24 at halftime and Idaho appeared to have solved the ball-handling woes that cost them on Thursday against the Vikings when they had 26 turnovers. The Vandals had only six by halftime of this game. But that would soon change.
 
The Vikings full-court press forced six Idaho turnovers in the Vandals' first nine possessions of the second half. That led to a 16-2 Vikings run to break the game open. The turnovers continued for Idaho and fueled a PSU run that grew to 34-6 over a span of 12 minutes. Portland State was able to ease to the victory from there.
 
"The guys did a good job after a talk at halftime about what we needed to do," said Coach Barret Peery. "I was proud of the way they came out in the second half. The defense gave us a spark and turned defense into offense.
 
"I thought the guys showed good composure to come on the road and win a game like this after a win like Thursday's. We showed good growth and an ability to move forward."
 
Portland State's successful seven-game stretch has seen good offense, but truly been led by suffocating defense. The Vikings have given up only 57.0 points per game and forced 20.3 turnovers during that stretch.
 
Idaho made only 12-38 field goals in the contest (.316). Damen Thacker led the Vandals (0-19, 0-16) with 13 points.
 
GAME NOTES: Kyle Greeley had seven points, hitting 3-3 from the field, and grabbed six rebounds coming off the bench. Elijah Hardy had eight points, three steals and three rebounds off the bench… Jacob Eyman currently leads the Big Sky Conference in blocked shots in league games (1.8)... PSU won its first road game of the season (1-5)… Portland State won the Thursday matchup between the teams, 84-64, at Viking Pavilion… Portland State goes on the road next week, playing at Northern Colorado on Thursday and Saturday. The games can be seen on Pluto TV Channel 1054, www.Pluto.tv, www.WatchBigSky.com.