Portland, OR – Portland State could not slow down a Southern Utah team with a Big Sky Conference title in its sights. The Thunderbirds shot well early and then cruised to a 73-54 win over the Vikings in the regular season finale.
 
With the win, Southern Utah (12-2) captured the Big Sky regular season title and will be the number-one seed heading into next week's Big Sky Tournament in Boise. The Vikings (6-8) drop to a tie for seventh place with Northern Colorado and will play either the ninth or 10^th seed next Wednesday in a first-round game in Boise.

"We're disappointed in our last game here at home, but like I just told the team, everyone is 0-0 going into next week," said Viking Coach Barret Peery. "We have to move on, prepare for our next opponent, and be ready to play in Boise."

The backcourt of John Knight III and Dre Marin dominated the first half for Southern Utah. They combined to make 13-16 shots from the field, including three three-pointers, and had 15 and 14 points, respectively. The

Thunderbirds were a scalding 16-24 from the field as a team, hitting 5-9 three-pointers, and 4-5 at the line to lead 41-25.
 
Southern Utah broke away in the second half, pushing its lead over 20 on a handful of occasions. The largest advantage was 64-39 with 9:06 to play. At that point the T-Birds were shooting 71% from the field.
 
For the second straight game against Southern Utah, the Vikings did not shoot well. PSU hit 20-55 from the field overall (.364) and only 6-15 at the line (.400).
 
"Southern Utah shot the ball extremely well against us. We got more shots and more offensive rebounds, but we shot so poorly in two games against them it was hard to overcome," said Peery.
In fact, PSU had 10 more shot attempts than the T-Birds and 11 more offensive rebounds in the game.

James Scott did have a good shooting game for the Vikings, making 6-12 from the field, 3-6 from three-point range and 2-3 at the line for a team-high 17 points. Paris Dawson scored 13 points, and Khalid Thomas added 11 points and five rebounds.

Southern Utah finished at 27-45 from the field (.600) and committed only eight turnovers against the Vikings' press. Knight scored a game-high 26 points on 11-13 from the field, with five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Marin added 19 points on 8-12 from the field.

The Thunderbirds won their ninth game in a row and are 19-3 overall heading to the post-season. Portland State finishes the regular season at 9-12.

GAME NOTES: The Big Sky Conference will announce tie-breakers and seedings for the tournament later tonight… the Vikings were 7-6 at home for the season… the 54 points scored by the Vikings were a season-low and the fewest since the 2014-15 season… Portland State will take part in the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Boise's Idaho Central Arena next week. The Vikings play a first-round game on Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.