Boise, ID – The Madness turned to sadness on Monday night as the Portland State Vikings' season came to an abrupt end at Idaho Central Arena. The Vikings suffered through a rough shooting first half and never could recover, losing to Idaho, 80-70, in a Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal round game.
 
PSU managed to shoot only 24% in the first half, fell behind by double digits and couldn't rally for the come-from-behind victory. On the other end, Idaho was efficient on offense and rode the 44 combined points of sophomore guards Jack Payne and Kristian Gonzalez to victory.
 
The Vikings season, still one of the best in their Big Sky Conference era, concludes with a 19-13 record. Idaho, improved to 14-18 and moves on to a tournament semifinal game with Montana (23-9) on Tuesday night.
 
Idaho allowed the Vikings to shoot from the outside early on with a zone defense that kept them out of the middle. It paid off. Portland State's offense was forgettable in the first half. The Vikings were 7-29 from the field, making only 3-17 from three-point range.
 
PSU was 1-12 over the last eight minutes of the half. Idaho wasn't great, but good enough, making 40% of its shots (10-25). Most of it came from Gonzalez, who scored 15 points on 5-8 from the field, including three triples.
 
Idaho built a 10-point advantage midway through the half, and got into halftime with a 34-20 lead.
 
A pair of baskets to open the second half pushed the Vandal lead to 39-20. Idaho continued to out-shoot the Vikings and grew the edge to 53-32. Payne's three-pointer with 6:53 to go had Idaho ahead 63-42.
 
Portland State fought to close the gap but never got the deficit under 10 points until only seconds remained in the game.
 
The Vikings' Terri Miller Jr. saw double-teams all night when he got the ball in the post, but still managed to lead the Vikings with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Qiant Myers added 14 points and six assists. Isaiah Johnson scored 11 points and Jaylin Henderson had 10.
 
PSU finished at 27-72 from the field (.375) while Idaho was a solid 25-51 (.490). The Vikings, in desperation mode, tossed up a school-record 43 three-point attempts, but made only 11 (.256).
 
The Vandals also out-rebounded the Vikings, 42-33.
 
Forcing PSU to shoot from outside fit the Idaho game plan. The Vikings had scored 98 points in the paint in two wins over the Vandals during the regular season. But they managed only 28 in this game.


"It was a tough game. I thought we played really hard like we always do. But in the first half we just couldn't buy (a shot)," said Vikings Coach Jase Coburn. "We stepped outside of who we are a little bit. 43 threes is a lot for us. Last time we played them we only shot 10 (and won). We just didn't have it tonight.
 
"We have done a good job against the zone all year, playing through the paint, getting some post touches and penetrating in there, but we didn't do it tonight. We fell into the trap a little bit."
 
Gonzalez finished with 24 points for Idaho. Payne had 20. The tandem combined to make 13-23 shots, 7-16 from three-point range and 11-12 at the free throw line.
 

GAME NOTES

• Portland State and Idaho were meeting for the first time ever in a Big Sky Conference Tournament game.
• Portland swept Idaho this season, winning 75-63 in Portland and 76-69 in Moscow… the Vikings had won seven straight games over the Vandals and 10 of the last 11.
• PSU is now 14-19 all-time in Big Sky Tournament games.