Portland, OR – Montana's Money Williams was on a run late in the second half. He scored 16 points in a row for the Grizzlies and had them staked to a 10-point lead over Portland State with 4:30 to play. The Vikings were cooked. And then….
The Vikings remembered they do not lose at home. PSU's much-ballyhooed defensive presence in the Viking Pavilion came forward and held Montana without a score on its final six possessions over four minutes, forcing three turnovers. The Vikings scored 10 in a row to get to overtime at 63-63, grabbed the lead in the extra session and won, 79-76, in front of a frenetic audience at Viking Pavilion.
"The crowd's energy the whole game and their spirit was incredible," said Viking Coach
Jase Coburn. "That was as loud as I have heard it in the Pavilion. I challenged the team during the four-minute timeout (in the second half) that, 'this crowd wants you to win, you owe it to them.' The crowd carried us the last six minutes. It was incredible. Credit to our players too. We had a choice to make: were we going to dig down and make the plays down the stretch?... and we did it."
The win came over the Big Sky Conference's first-place team, marking the second time this season PSU has knocked off a first-place team. They did so to Northern Colorado back on Feb. 15.
More immediately though, the Vikings improved to 18-12 on the season, 10-7 in the Big Sky, maintaining their third-place tie with Idaho State with one game to play.
It was PSU's 10th win in a row at home, 11 straight Big Sky win at home and improved the overall record at The Ship to 12-1 this season.
Terri Miller Jr. turned in a brilliant performance with 21 points and a career-high tying 11 rebounds. Seven of his points and three rebounds came in the overtime period. It was his fourth double-double of the season and he did it wearing a mask after having his nose broken in Thursday's win over Montana State.
"Terri was incredible for us. He was playing through an injury, with a mask. That's not easy, but we really leaned on him. There is a toughness he has to play through it at that level," said Coburn.
Qiant Myers added 19 points and five assists to the Vikings effort.
Isaiah Johnson had 13 points and seven rebounds and
Jaylin Henderson scored 11 points.
For his part, Williams was brilliant as well. He scored 36 points with 33 coming in the second half and overtime. But the Vikings forced him into two missed shots and turnover in the Griz' final three possessions of regulation.
Montana squeaked out a 27-26 halftime lead as both teams struggled to find any rhythm offensively. The Vikings were 10-30 (.333) shooting in the half, and the Grizzlies were 11-28 (.393).
PSU found its touch in the halftime locker room. The Vikings made four of their first five shots in an 8-0 run and led 35-27.
That's when Williams took over. He led the Griz back to a 44-42 advantage with a pair of baskets in an 11-2 run. A few minutes later he continued his onslaught, scoring 16 points in a row for the Griz. Montana led by as many as 11 and was ahead 63-53 after a pair of Williams' free throws with just 4:30 to go.
Portland State was not done, though.
Hayden Curtiss hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to seven. Then Miller made two free throws, followed by another free throw from Myers. In between those three scores, the Vikings forced Montana into a pair of shot clock violations.
Now the Viking Pavilion crowd was in it. Following a miss by the Griz, Johnson got two more free throws for the Vikings. That made it 63-61 Montana with 1:35 to go.
Williams was forced into a turnover by the Vikings. On the Viking end, Miller went to work inside on the next possession and scored to tie the game at 63-63 with a minute left.
Montana had two possessions and the Vikings had one in the final minute but neither team could score.
Miller scored on three consecutive possessions early in overtime as PSU got the lead right away. Montana was able to tie the game at 70. But a driving three-point play by Johnson put the Vikings up for good, 73-70, with 1:45 to play.
Montana had won 10 games in a row prior to coming to Viking Pavilion. The Griz are now 21-9 on the season, 14-3 in the Big Sky.
GAME NOTES
- Portland State's 18 wins are the most in five seasons.
- This was Portland State's first overtime game of the season. PSU has won four overtime games in a row and is 4-1 in OT under Coach Jase Coburn over four seasons.
- Montana held a lead for 19:46 of the game (PSU led for 20:22). It was the most an opponent had led the Vikings in Viking Pavilion all season.
- With six blocked shots, Portland State has set a new record for a season with 154. The previous record was 153, set in 2006-07.
- Montana beat the Vikings, 92-78, in Missoula on Jan. 30. It was PSU's only double-digit loss over the past three months.
- Portland State closes out the regular season on Monday at Viking Pavilion hosting Sacramento State at 7 p.m.. Tickets are available at www.GoViks.com. The game airs on ESPN+.
