Seattle, WA – An electric first-half by Cameron Tyson staked Seattle to a lead, then the Redhawks held on to beat Portland State 83-71 at Redhawk Center.
 
The Vikings couldn't shoot well enough to keep up with Seattle and went down to its second straight defeat to open the 2022-23 season. Seattle, the defending Western Athletic Conference Champion, is now 3-0.
 
Jorell Saterfield had 19 points and five rebounds for the Vikings. Cameron Parker chipped in 14 points and three assists. PSU also got a good bench effort with 32 points and 17 rebounds, but overall shot only 22-67 from the field (.328) and 6-24 from three-point range (.250).
 
Tyson finished with a game-high 32 points, scoring 24 in the first half alone. Paris Dawson came off the bench to tally 18 points and six rebounds for the Redhawks.
 
Seattle was 23-53 from the field (.434), making 11-24 (.458) from long range.
 
The Vikings missed their first eight shots of the game before Hunter Woods hit a three-pointer five minutes into the contest. PSU trailed by as many as 10 points but put a lot of offensive pressure on the Redhawks by getting inside and drawing fouls. 
 
The Vikings pulled within 33-31 just before halftime. However, Tyson got red hot for the Redhawks hitting three three-pointers in the last 2:16 of the half. That gave Seattle a 43-34 lead at the break.
 
Tyson made 6-11 three-pointers in the half overall on the way to 24 points.
 
Parker scored 11 for the Vikings and got support from Isiah Kirby and Woods who came off the bench to combine for 16 points in the first half.
 
Portland State closed to within five points at 51-46 with 13:41 to play. That was as close as the Vikings would get as they couldn't string together enough made baskets for a serious run.
 
Seattle never ran away with the game as its largest lead was 14 points. The Redhawks made 17 of 21 free throws in the second half, 26 of 38 overall as the Vikings were whistled for 30 fouls.
 
Portland State committed only nine turnovers while forcing Seattle into 17. But the Redhawks had a 46-37 advantage on the backboards.
 

GAME NOTES 

• Hunter Woods led the bench effort for the second straight game with 11 points and eight rebounds. He has 22 points and 22 rebounds in the first two games of the season.
• After two games Cameron Parker leads the team in scoring (18.5) and assists (4.5).
• Seattle University won the Western Athletic Conference regular season title in 2021-22 (23-9/14-4).
• This was the first meeting between the schools since the 2010-11 season. Seattle leads all-time series 9-8 winning eight of nine games played in Seattle.
• Portland State comes home for the first time on Wednesday night. The Vikings host Evergreen in a 7 p.m. game at Viking Pavilion. The contest airs on ESPN+.