Big Sky Conference Tournament Semifinal

#7 PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (14-16, 10-10) vs. #3 NORTHERN COLORADO BEARS (19-14, 13-7)

Friday, March 11, 2022, 8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT • Idaho Central Arena, Boise, ID
Live Stream: ESPN+ • Play-by-Play: Tony Parks • Analyst: Joe Cravens
Live Stats: www.statbroadcast.com/events/central.php?gid=bsc
Complete notes and stats in pdf

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THE OPENING TIP

Coming off a big upset of second-seeded Southern Utah, Portland State advances to a Big Sky Tournament Semifinal game against Northern Colorado as the potential Cinderella of the league. The seventh-seeded Vikings take on the third-seeded Bears on Friday night at 8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT at Idaho Central Arena. The other semifinal features number-one Montana State and number-four Weber State. PSU was 3-3 this season against the other three semifinalists.
     
Portland State's (14-16) late season run continues, winning for the 10th time in 13 games on Thursday against Southern Utah. The Vikings won convincingly, 77-65, never trailing and leading by double-digits most of the way. PSU did it with offense, shooting .519 from the field and .810 at the line, and with defense, holding Southern Utah to .368 from the field, 3-25 from three-point range, making seven steals and blocking seven shots.
     
The Vikings now meet the Bears (19-14) for the third time this season. Although UNC finished third in league play, PSU won back-to-back games in the series, 79-76 in Portland on Jan. 31, then 106-99 in Greeley on Feb. 3. PSU is now challenged by the old basketball adage that it is difficult to beat any team three times in the same season.
     
Northern Colorado has also been hot, winning nine of its last 12 games. The Bears beat sixth-seeded Eastern Washington, 68-67, in a quarterfinal round game.
     
The Bears will have to stop SR F Khalid Thomas who has 37 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists and three steals in two tournament games. He has made 15-26 shots from the field (.576).
     
Portland State has held its two tournament opponents to a combined .347 shooting and 3-40 from three-point range while blocking nine shots, making 15 steals and forcing 33 turnovers.
     
Portland State's trip to the Big Sky semifinals is the first by the program since 2014. PSU is 14-15 all-time in Big Sky Tournament games (4-1 in first round games, 6-8 in quarterfinal round games, 2-6 in semifinals and 2-0 in championship games). The Viking program is 1-0 all-time against Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament, winning a first-round game 74-67 on Mar. 8, 2016 in Reno.
 

THE 2022 BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

 
Wednesday, March 9, 2022, live streamed on ESPN+
Game 1 – No. 8 Sacramento State 58, No. 9 Idaho 54          
Game 2 – No. 7 Portland State 66, No. 10 Idaho State 52
Game 3 – No. 6 Eastern Washington 78, No. 11 Northern Arizona 75
 
Thursday, March 10, 2022, live streamed on ESPN+
Game 4 – No. 1 Montana State 83, No. 8 Sacramento State 61       
Game 5 – No. 4 Weber State 68, No. 5 Montana 56
Game 6 – No. 7 Portland State 77, No. 2 Southern Utah 65
Game 7 – No. 3 Northern Colorado 68, No. 6 Eastern Washington 67
 
Friday, March 11, 2022, live streamed on ESPN+
Game 8 – No. 1 Montana State (25-7, 16-4) vs. No. 4 Weber State (21-11, 13-7), 5:30 p.m.
Game 9 – No. 7 Portland State (14-16, 10-10) vs. No. 3 Northern Colorado (19-14, 13-7), 8 p.m.
 
Saturday, March 12, 2022, televised on ESPNU
Game 10 – Championship Game, 6 p.m.
 
All times listed are Mountain
 

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. NORTHERN COLORADO

• THE SERIES: Portland State leads the all-time series, 23-12, and the Big Sky Conference series, 19-12... PSU swept the season series and has won five of the last six meetings... the Vikings are 1-0 against the Bears in the Big Sky Tournament.
• THIS SEASON: Jan. 31, 2022, at Viking Pavilion: PSU 79, UNC 76: Portland State played its best half of the season at Viking Pavilion in the opening 20 minutes then the Vikings had to hang on for dear life over the final 20 minutes to pull out the win... 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... 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 Daylen 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... 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 hit 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... PSU never trailed in the game and it was only tied once at 67-67. Feb. 3 at Northern Colorado, PSU 106, UNC 99: The Vikings, behind 23 points from Ezekiel Alley, outlasted Northern Colorado on the road for their third straight win.. 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... 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)... Daylen Kountz led the Bears with 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
• COACHES: Vikings Coach Jase Coburn (Arizona State, 2006) is in his first season as Head Coach. He has spent eight previous seasons on the Park Blocks as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach... the Bears are coached by Steve Smiley (Northern State, 2004) in his second season. Smiley is 30-25 overall, 1-3 against the Vikings.

 

WHO IS HOT

• In the last 13 games, PSU has averaged 78.8 points... during a four-game winning streak (Jan. 29-Feb. 5), PSU averaged 88.8 points, shot .492 from the field, and .480 from three-point range (making 11.8 per game).
• Portland State's defense has been on display in the last 13 games, forcing 19.0 turnovers per game and making 9.3 steals per game... for the season, PSU forces 17.1 turnovers per game - the most in the Big Sky... PSU leads the Big Sky in turnover margin (+4.6), ranking eighth in the nation... the Vikings average a Big Sky-best 9.3 steals per game, which ranks 10th in the nation.
• Portland State has had 12 different starting lineups this season. The current group of Alley, Squire, Carter III, Burke and Thomas is now 6-0.
• SR F Khalid Thomas scored a career-high 27 points (11-19 FG, 5-6 FT) with seven rebounds and four steals in the win over Idaho State (2/26). Thomas averaged 22.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 2.0 assists and 1.0 blocks in two wins earning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on Mar. 1... he then had double-doubles against Idaho (14 pts, 11 reb) and Eastern Washington (24 pts, 11 reb)... over the last six games he is averaging 19.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 1.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots... he has averaged 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in PSU's 13-game run... Thomas leads the team in scoring (12.8), rebounds (6.3) and steals (1.9). He ranks second in the Big Sky in steals, 11th in rebounding and 19th in scoring.
• SR G Ezekiel Alley has been red-hot, averaging 15.5 points over the last 13 games... Alley scored a season-high 26 points (10-18 FG, 4-8 3-pt, 2-3 FT) with two rebounds, two assists and five steals in the win over Sacramento State (2/5) and was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week (Feb. 8).
• BOLSTERED BY THE BENCH: In two Big Sky Tournament games, FR C Hayden Curtiss has scored 14 points, making 4-5 from the field and 6-6 at the line, with four rebounds and two blocked shots in 27 minutes... JR G Mikal Starks has 13 points (4-7 FG, 4-4 FT), 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals in 40 minutes of play.

FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHING WINS, BIG SKY ERA

First-year Head Coach Jase Coburn is 14-16 with the Vikings this season. That ranks third among the seven head coaches the Vikings have had in the Big Sky Conference era (1996 to present). He is third in winning percentage.
 
2017-18: Barret Peery, 20-14
1998-99: Joel Sobotka, 17-11
2021-22: Jase Coburn, 14-16
2009-10: Tyler Geving, 13-19
2005-06: Ken Bone, 12-16
1996-97: Ritchie McKay, 9-17
2002-03: Heath Schroyer, 5-11