Greeley, CO – Against all odds, Portland State basketball rolls on.
 
The Vikings, behind a season-high 23 points from Ezekiel Alley, outlasted Northern Colorado on the road for their third straight win, 106-99. How they got there was a strange, but true, journey.
 
Head Coach Jase Coburn started his eighth different lineup in the last 13 games due to injuries and illnesses. Junior guard Damion Squire was unable to go due to a broken nose suffered in Monday's game against UNC. Mikal Starks went down with an ankle sprain in the first half. Leading scorer Khalid Thomas left the game in the second half with 13:33 to play when he had a foul and simultaneous technical foul for his fifth personal. Then, Michael Carter III fouled out with 4:19 to play. That left the Vikings down four starters, with seven available players and they hadn't held a lead since just after halftime. Oh, and they were playing their ninth game in less than three weeks.
 
None of that seemed to matter to a resilient group led by Alley, Marlon Ruffin, Ian Burke and Paris Dawson down the stretch.
 
Ruffin's driving three-point play at the 3:58 mark tied the game at 90. His three-pointer with 2:47 left put PSU ahead, 93-92. Alley followed with a pair of free throws then a three-pointer on PSU's next two possessions and the lead grew to 98-94. In the final minute, Northern Colorado had to resort to fouls to catch up. Burke and Dawson responded by each hitting four straight free throws for the final eight points.
 
PSU's win was its third in a row with its new small-ball lineup featuring four guards and one forward. The Vikings are now 5-7 in the Big Sky Conference, 7-13 overall. Remarkably they are 4-2 in Big Sky road games.
 
This game looked different from the Monday matchup between the schools. The Vikings led the entire way in that game, a 79-76 PSU win, including by 21 at halftime.
 
This time, the Bears led the majority of the first half and by as many as nine (33-24). The Vikings closed out the half by scoring eight straight points, including back-to-back three pointers by Ruffin and Michael Carter III, to go ahead 43-42 at the break.
 
It was a good shooting half, with Portland State making 15-28 from the field (.536) and Northern Colorado making 16-28 (.571). Ruffin came off the bench to hit 4-4 shots and score nine points.
 
Both teams shot just as well in the second half. The Bears led most of the way, including by nine at 81-72 with 9:44 to play. But the Vikings stayed close by utilizing the three-pointer. PSU made 10-14 from long range in the second half, finishing the game at 14-25 from outside the arc (.560). Seven different players made three-pointers.
 
"We have an identity about what we are trying to do offensively now," said Viking Coach Jase Coburn. "The guys are buying in and we are having a lot of success right now.
 
"It can be anybody (scoring) on any given night with our team. That makes us hard to guard. We are confident playing whoever we need to put on the floor.
 
"The most important thing is we have a group of fighters. We took some big-time punches from Northern Colorado and we responded. They are a really good team and that was a good win."
 
The 106 points scored were the most by a Viking team against a Division I opponent since scoring 106 in a win at Cal on Dec. 21, 2017 (106-81). Six Vikings scored in double figures against the Bears, led by Alley's 23. He made 7-15 from the field, 4-7 from distance and 5-7 at the line.
 
Ruffin scored 20 points in 30 minutes off the bench, hitting 7-12 from the field, 3-3 from three-point range and 3-3 at the line.  Carter added 15 points, Burke had 14 and Dawson scored 12 for the Vikings.
 
PSU finished the night at 33-63 from the field (.524), 14-25 from three-point range (.560) and 26-32 at the line (.813). The Bears actually shot better at 34-61 from the field (.557), but were only 18-31 at the line (.581). In addition, Portland State forced UNC into 19 turnovers, converting them for 25 points. The Vikings had 23 points on the fast break to only six for Northern Colorado.
 
Daylen Kountz, the Big Sky Conference's leading scorer, led the Bears with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Northern Colorado is now 5-4 in the Big Sky, 10-11 on the season overall.
 

GAME NOTES

• Zeke Alley had back-to-back season highs against Northern Colorado with 22 and 23 points.
• Ian Burke is averaging 14.3 points in the last four games on .576 shooting.
• Marlon Ruffin has made 5-5 three-pointers in the last two games.
• Portland State swept the season series from Northern Colorado, averaging 92.5 points against the Bears.
• The Vikings were averaging 67.7 points and shooting under .400 after 15 games this season. In their three-game winning streak, they are averaging 94.0 points, shooting .510 from the field, 39-77 from three-point range (.506) and .833 at the line.
• Khalid Thomas had 11 points and three rebounds in just 19 minutes before fouling out.
• Portland State returns to Viking Pavilion to face Sacramento State on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The game streams live at ESPN+.