Portland, OR – Portland State played its best half of the season at Viking Pavilion in the opening 20 minutes against Northern Colorado on Monday night. Then, the Vikings had to hang on for dear life over the final 20 minutes to pull out a 79-76 win over the Bears.
 
Ezekiel Alley led the way with a season-high 22 points as well as the biggest defensive play of the game. The senior guard was effective on offense all night, hitting 7-13 shots, 3-7 from three-point range and 5-5 at the line. But his most important play was the charge he drew from the Big Sky Conference's top scorer Daylen Kountz when PSU was clinging to a 78-76 lead with 6.1 seconds left.
 
The Vikings got the ball back after Alley's play. Damion Squire drew a foul on the ensuing in-bound and made one of two free throws at the other end. With five seconds remaining the Bears raced up court but a last-ditch three-point attempt by Matt Johnson was wide.
 
PSU won its second game in a row and improved to 6-13 on the season. At 4-7 in the Big Sky, the Vikings jump over Northern Arizona (3-6) in the standings to seventh place and one game behind sixth-place Eastern Washington (5-6).
 
Despite 30 points from Kountz, the Bears drop to 10-10 on the season, 5-3 in the Big Sky. The Bears had been 3-0 in Big Sky road games before losing to the Vikings.
 
In the first half, Portland State picked up where it left off in its' last win at Northern Arizona (97-76 on Saturday). The Vikings were on fire from the field, and in particular at the three-point line. PSU shot 19-37 in the half (.514) and made 9-16 threes (.563).
 
Northern Colorado did not have an answer, shooting .417 with 11 turnovers. Only Kountz, with his flurry of runs at the rim, gave the Bears any life. He had 16 points by halftime, but the Vikings led 51-30.
 
Northern Colorado came out of halftime on a heater. The Bears scored 11 points in the opening two minutes, forcing a PSU timeout. Later in the half, Johnson scored eight points in a 9-0 UNC run, including back-to-back three pointers that trimmed the PSU advantage to only 65-63.
 
Kountz was finally able to tie the game at 67 on a pair of free throws with 5:19 to play.
 
But the Vikings were resilient. Khalid Thomas came back with an emphatic driving dunk. Then Ian Burke, a hero in the Northern Arizona game, hit a clutch three-pointer from the corner and PSU led 72-68. The teams traded scores the rest of the way.
 
The Vikings led 78-73 when the Bears' Dru Kuxhausen was fouled shooting a three-pointer. He made all three shots to close it to 78-76 with 42 seconds left. After a Viking miss with 12 seconds to play, Kountz raced up the court and drove baseline trying to tie the contest. But Alley was already there. He drew the charge and the Vikings were able to hang on for the win.
 
Despite being outscored 46-28 in the second half, Portland State still came out on top.
 
"This team has been through so much that we have developed a toughness and being able to function at a high level in adversity," said Coach Jase Coburn, in reference to the second half.  
 
The top three-point shooting team in the league, UNC made seven triples in the second half and 11 in the game.
 
"Give Northern Colorado a lot of credit. We knew they were capable of coming back, and you have to give them credit for fighting back into it," said Coburn.
 
"We got a huge stop at the end when Zeke Alley drew the charge for us. He really had a big game. He has a great handle, he can get to the rim and he can shoot it. We got a great performance from Zeke."
 
Squire had 19 points for the Vikings, adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Marlon Ruffin came off the bench to score a dozen points for the Vikings.
 
Kountz made 11-17 from the field on a myriad of drives to the basket, and hit 8-9 at the line for 30 points. Johnson scored 17 for UNC.
 
Portland State finished at 29-65 from the field (.446), 11-25 from three-point range (.440) and 10-12 at the line (.833).
 

GAME NOTES

• PSU never trailed in the game and it was only tied once at 67-67.
• Portland State has won four of its last five meetings with Northern Colorado. The Vikings are 9-5 all-time against the Bears at home.
• The win ended a seven-game losing streak at home for the Vikings. PSU has won three of its four Big Sky games on the road.
• Khalid Thomas led the Vikings with seven rebounds and matched Squire with three assists.
• Monday's game was a makeup of the Jan. 10 postponement. It was also the Vikings' eighth game in 16 days.
• Portland State goes back on the road to play at Northern Colorado, Thursday at 5 p.m. in a game that airs on ESPN+.