Moscow, ID – Cameron Parker scored 16 of his game-high 18 points to lead Portland State's second-half surge as the Vikings came away with a 74-58 win at Idaho.
 
PSU's second half, in which it shot .696 from the field, including 6-7 from three-point range and 9-11 at the free throw line, had to be one of its best of the season.  PSU was 16-23 from the field after halftime, outscoring the Vandals 47-28. That was a welcome sight for Coach Jase Coburn as the Vikings held second-half leads on the road in its last two games but weren't able to finish the job. 
 
"It's something we have been talking about," said Coburn. "Sometimes as a team you have to go through that a little bit to be ready to win. Tonight we did that and we learned from our mistakes. We were well aware of what happened in the last two games and credit to our team for understanding that and responding to it."
 
Parker's 18 points came on 7-11 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 3-4 at the line. He added a team-high six rebounds, three assists and a steal. After intermission, he was 6-8 from the field, 3-3 at the line, had four rebounds and two assists.
 
"Cam stepped up and made great plays. He made some really good reads in the second half," said Coburn of his point guard. 
 
Jorell Saterfield scored 13 points, hitting 5-7 shots and all three of his three-pointers.
 
The Vikings shot 26-50 (.520) from the field and 9-14 (.643) from three-point range, its best marks against a Division I opponent this year. Perhaps just as impressive was holding Idaho, the second-leading scoring team (77.1) in the Big Sky behind the Vikings (78.8) to 58 points.
 
"We scored, but I'm really proud of our defense and rebounding,"said Coburn. "It led to a lot of advantage for us in getting out offensively. Our defensive rebounding really helped us in the second half."
 
The Vikings out-rebounded Idaho 33-31 for the game, but specifically 18-9 in the second half. Sixteen of those were on the defensive end.
 
Idaho shot .396 from the field and had 13 turnovers. The Vikings, with eight steals, turned those turnovers into 23 points.
 
Portland State set the tone defensively in the first half. The Vikings held Idaho scoreless for nearly five minutes, scoring 10 in a row to take a 16-8 lead at the midway point. Idaho slowly worked its way back on top taking a 30-27 lead at halftime. Shooting was poor on both sides with the Vikings at 10-27 from the field and the Vandals at 10-26.
 
Portland State found its shooting and scored 11 straight points to pull into a 47-39 lead at the 10:11 mark of the second half. The Vikings never trailed after that.
 
Parker scored eight points during that game turnaround. It was his four-point play with five minutes remaining that pushed PSU's lead to double-digits - where it would stay - at 62-51.
 
The Vikings improved to 7-9 on the season, 1-2 in the Big Sky Conference with the victory. It marked the third straight season PSU has won at Idaho.
 
The Vandals dropped to 6-11, 0-4 in the Big Sky. 
 
Idaho big man Isaac Jones, who went into the game leading the Big Sky in scoring at 20.0 points per game, was "held" to 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jones was coming off a 42-point performance against Sacramento State on Thursday.
 

GAME NOTES

• Once again, the Viking bench played well, combining for 22 points and 12 rebounds… Isaiah Johnson had 10 points and five boards to lead that group.
• Hunter Woods had eight points without missing a shot, five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
• Mikal Starks led the team with four assists, adding four points, three rebounds and two steals.
• Idaho was Portland State's first Division I opponent of the entire season with a losing record at the time of the game.
• PSU has won five of the last six games against Idaho and eight of the last 11.
• The Vikings played six of their last seven games on the road, going 2-5. "Our guys have never been down," said Coburn. "We have played six of seven on the road, opened conference with three straight on the road. Nobody else had to do that, but our guys are tough and they gutted out this one."
• Portland State finally comes home next week, beginning a stretch of six games out of eight at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings play Northern Arizona on Thursday and Northern Colorado on Saturday. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.