Portland, OR – Portland State held off a pesky Linfield team in its home opener, coming away with a 70-53 victory and improving its early season record to 3-0.
 
The Vikings are off to their best start since going 4-0 at the beginning of 2017-18. PSU has beaten Air Force, UC Santa Barbara and Linfield in the season's opening seven days.
 
Senior forward KJ Allen, a transfer from Texas Tech, was the key player for the Vikings with game highs of 18 points, seven rebounds and five steals. And, when Portland State needed a spark, he was the man to provide it.
 
Portland State was more than ready to go at the start. The Vikings raced to a 14-0 lead after five minutes of play. But the Wildcats came back with an 19-5 run over the next 10 minutes to tie the game.
 
Finally, a driving dunk by Allen got the Vikings re-started. Allen drove baseline and dunked over a withering defender. He was fouled and converted the free throw. On the other end, Allen made a steal and the Vikings came back up court. This time Allen drove to the rim again, converting a spinning layup. He drew another foul and completed a second straight three-point play. That seemed to right the ship for the Vikings as they rolled into halftime with a 32-23 lead.
 
Linfield never got closer than 10 points in the final 18 minutes but also never went away. The Wildcats, an NCAA III program, was able to out-rebound the Vikings, 43-35. However, 19 turnovers, with 12 steals from the Vikings made a big difference.
 
PSU opened the game by making six of its first nine shots, but then only made two of the next 14, allowing Linfield to come back. That set the tone for a mediocre shooting performance from the Vikings. They finished at 25-61 from the field (.410), 9-26 from three-point range (.346) and 11-20 at the line (.550).
 
Linfield was 21-55 from the field (.382), 5-14 from distance (.357) and 6-8 at the line (.750).
 
Portland State played 12 players in the game with 10 scoring points. In addition to Allen, Kendall Munson was in double figures with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Jorell Saterfield added eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.
 
Cade Collins scored 16 points to lead Linfield (0-2). Joshua Ryan added 11 points and five rebounds.
 

GAME NOTES

• Portland State had its third different starting lineup in three games. The Vikings started Ismail Habib and Jorell Saterfield at guard, and Isaiah Johnson, Hunter Woods and Kendall Munson at forward.
• Hunter Woods reached 1,000 points in his collegiate career in the game (now 1,003). Woods scored 676 points in 84 games at Elon. He now has 327 points in 34 games at Portland State.
• Bobby Harvey hit another three-point field goal and now has 30 consecutive games with a made three-pointer. He is five games shy of the PSU record of 35 straight games with a three, held by Brian Towne (1997-98).
• The Vikings are off until Friday when they play in The Lancer Joust, a four-team, three-day tournament at California Baptist. The Vikings play the Lancers on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.