Portland, OR – Sacramento State's Mikey Williams was a lot, but Portland State proved to be a whole lot more. The Vikings withstood Williams' early barrage of points, then ran away with a 96-69 win in their Big Sky home opener.
 
PSU's senior stars shone brighter than ever in the game. Guard Jaylin Henderson, the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, had another big performance with 26 points and five assists. Center Tre-Vaughn Minott had the game of his career with career-highs of 23 points and 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and making 9-11 shots from the field. It was the first 20-20 game by a Viking in 10 years. And, forward Terri Miller Jr. recorded the second triple-double of his career and third in Viking history with 14 points, a career-high 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
 
"I'm so proud of those three guys. They show up for the team every single time and are really consistent," said Vikings Coach Jase Coburn. "It starts with who they are as people, their practice habits and their leadership. The three of them have undeniable chemistry together."
 
Portland State maintained its spot at the top of the Big Sky standings, moving to 3-0, 9-5 overall. The Vikings picked up their 13th consecutive Big Sky home win.
 
Early on, it looked like Williams might be the dominant figure. He came out on fire for Sacramento State, hitting his first five shots and scoring the Hornets' first 12 points. Williams had 21 by halftime. 
 
But the Vikings were getting contributions from all sides, and overcame Williams and an early Sacramento State lead. PSU took the lead for good with 11 minutes left in the first half. 
 
The lead remained at single-digits for much of the half before the Vikings turned it on behind Henderson and Miller. They combined for 13 of the Vikings' 17 points in a 17-3 run, highlight by a pair of dynamic dunks by Henderson. PSU's two-point lead jumped to 16 just before halftime and they were in control from there.
 
The second half was a runaway as PSU led by as many as 36 points. In addition to the star turns of PSU's "big three" seniors, two factors played a big role. First, the Vikings slowed Williams to a crawl, after going 5-5 from the field, PSU got him to miss 11 of his final 15 shots.
 
"I give a lot of credit to Isaiah Williams and Kelcy Phipps (off the bench) to go out there and do a great job on him. Mikey Williams is a really talented player and we had to settle in and figure out how to deal with him," said Coburn.
 
Next, PSU dominated the glass behind Minott's performance. At one point the Vikings had 43 of the 59 total rebounds in the game. They finished with a healthy 47-25 advantage on the backboards.
 
"I told our team before the game if they do a great job on the boards we would have a good chance to win. That came true," said Coburn.
 
Finally, it almost always comes down to shooting, doesn't it? The Vikings couldn't have been much better, making 35-64 from the field (.547), 10-25 from three-point range (.400) and 16-20 at the line (.800). Meanwhile, they held the Hornets to 22-62 from the field (.355) and 3-21 from distance (.143).
 
Sacramento State dropped to 4-11, 0-3 with the loss. Williams had 29 points to lead the way. Mark Lavrenov grabbed 11 rebounds.
 

GAME NOTES

• The Vikings were playing their first home game in 28 days. They will play five of the next seven at home as well… PSU is 5-1 at home this season, 29-4 over the last three seasons.
• PSU's Big Sky Conference home winning streak of 13 games stretches from Feb. 15, 2024-Jan. 10, 2026.
• All 14 Vikings played in the game… Isaiah Williams and Sebastian Tidor each had nine points off the bench.
• PSU had seven more dunks in the game, four by Minott and two by Henderson on back-to-back breakaways.
• Portland State is at home again next week. The Vikings host Northern Colorado on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Northern Arizona on Saturday (2 p.m.) at Viking Pavilion. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.