SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Portland State head men's basketball coach
Jase Coburn said the Vikings' current stretch of four straight road games would be the toughest of the season. Losses to Seattle U and Colorado State – two teams that made the NIT last season – on Nov. 7 and 11, respectively, certainly made it look that way.
But Saturday, the Vikings looked like they could have been playing any team in America. They jumped out to a 16-2 and never looked back, beating a quality San Francisco team picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference, 84-68, at the War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
"It's obviously nice to get a win out of this tough stretch to our schedule. But the thing that I'm most impressed with is that after losing two games, we responded," Coburn said afterwards. "We not only responded but came out ready to go. When you lose two on the road and you're in game three, it's easy to fold. But our guys showed that they wouldn't do that."
Yaroslav Nikonov had nine of the Vikings' first 11 points in the game. Additionally, four USF turnovers on the Dons' first six possessions led to seven of the Vikings' first 11 points. The Dons never got closer than nine points the rest of the way while the Vikings stretched the lead to as many as 27 points in the second half.
The Viking defense never made things easy for the Dons. That was a welcomed sight after Seattle U and Colorado State both shot better than 50 percent from the field over the Vikings' previous two games. But Saturday, it was a vintage performance from a
Jase Coburn-led team as the Vikings held the Dons to just 30.3 percent (20-for-66) shooting overall and just 20.6 percent (7-for-34) from three-point range.
"We needed to go through playing two really good teams to improve defensively. We talked a lot over the past few days on what we needed to do to improve defensively, and tonight I think we figured that out," Coburn said.
The defensive showing helped the Vikings get out in transition, as they scored a season-high 26 points on fast breaks.
Offensively, Nikonov and
Jaquay Randolph established a reliable inside-outside presence that stretched the Dons' defense. Nikonov finished with a career-high 27 points on 7-for-10 shooting overall and 3-for-4 from three-point range. Randolph, meanwhile, went to work inside, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds on 6-for-11 shooting.
Nikonov added six rebounds and seven assists to his 27 points. He also had three steals in the game.
"Yaro is obviously a really good basketball player. But the part I enjoy coaching every day is his competitive side. He has a really great competitive part about him to go along with his talent. We need him to keep going," Coburn said.
Randolph, meanwhile, now has three double-doubles in his first three games with the Vikings. He was coming off a 23-point, 18-rebound performance against Colorado State Wednesday in which he tied the third-most rebounds in a single game by a Viking during the program's Big Sky era (1996 to present).
"Three double-doubles in three games to start your Division I career is pretty darn good. He's just got a knack for rebounding and a knack for scoring. And he's a good shooter. He's been very impressive so far," Coburn said of Randolph.
Coburn also shouted out
Luke Kearney, who joined Nikonov and Randolph in double figures with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field. Additionally, Coburn praised the job
Dennis Johnson III did in his first start with the Vikings. Johnson III helped establish the defensive showing early while finishing with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Coburn would have gone on if given the time.
Antonio Pusateri, for instance, finished 4-for-5 from the field while scoring nine points to go with four rebounds. Emil Skyttä, like Johnson III, filled the stat sheet with four points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.
As a team, the Vikings assisted on 20 of their 29 field goals while shooting 56.9 percent (29-for-51) from the field. That was another positive sign after Seattle U and Colorado State held the Vikings to .351 and .414 from the field, respectively.
The Dons' one push came immediately after the Vikings took their largest lead of the game. Randolph took advantage of a mismatch inside to convert his second and-one over the last four minutes while giving the Vikings a 71-44 lead with 8:05 remaining with under three minutes to go. The Dons answered with a 22-4 run to get back within nine, but the Vikings pushed the lead back out from there while scoring their last seven points from the free throw line.
The Vikings will close out their four-game road trip with a Monday night game (7 p.m. tipoff) at Saint Mary's. The Gaels figure to be the toughest opponent out of the last four for the Vikings, after they were a No. 7 seed in March Madness a season ago.
But the tough stretch has helped the Vikings forge an identity, something they needed to do with 13 newcomers out of 16 rostered players.
Saturday, that identity came into focus a little bit more.
GAME NOTES:
- The Vikings improved to 2-2 all-time against the Dons with Saturday's win. It was their first win in the series since Dec. 16, 2016. All four games have been in San Francisco.
- The Vikings finished 7-for-16 while shooting a season-high .438 from three-point range. Besides Nikonov's three, Randolph, Johnson III, Kearney and Trevor Frank all hit a three-pointer.
- The Vikings outscored the Dons 40-24 in the paint.
