PORTLAND, Ore. — On a night the Portland State men's basketball team celebrated one relentless effort – the program's 2025-26 Big Sky regular-season title – this year's Vikings showed the capability of putting in another.
The Vikings dominated the second half against Lewis & Clark, shooting 71.0 percent (22-for-31) after halftime en route to a 111-59 victory Tuesday at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings (1-0) led wire-to-wire but truly put the game away over a 10-minute stretch in the middle of the second half in which they outscored the River Otters 37-10 while making 15 of 18 shots from the field.
"The last time we were out here, we were throwing a party," Portland State head coach
Jase Coburn said in reference to the Vikings clinching the outright Big Sky regular-season title with an 84-60 win over Weber State on March 2.
"We need to write our own story. It's a different team, different look. It was good to get out there in front of the home crow and play a home game in front of the home fans."
Besides a similar relentless effort, the Vikings also showed the same unselfish brand of basketball that was a hallmark of last year's championship. During their dominant stretch in the second half, the Vikings assisted on 12 of their 15 field goals. Five of those came from freshman guard
Gantas Križanauskas, who finished with a game-high eight helpers on the night.
The Vikings finished with 24 assists on 37 field goals as a team. Besides Križanauskas' eight, sophomore guard
Yaroslav Nikonov added five of his own while Emil Skyttä had four.
"Through our scrimmages, exhibitions and practices, we've been a high-assist team," Coburn said. "They're just a very unselfish team and the good thing is, it's carried over from practices into games. Sometimes you practice that way but then stats start popping up and all that stuff and people kind of veer away from that a little bit. But obviously these guys have shown that they're going to continue to do the right play."
The unselfish play meant six different Vikings finished in double figures. Fifth-year center
KC Ibekwe and senior forward
Luke Kearney led the Vikings with 17 points each. Nikonov scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, while redshirt senior guard
Trevor Frank did the opposite, scoring all 13 of his points in the first half. Senior forward
Antonio Pusateri and senior guard
Nehemiah Pollard added 10 points each.
Ibekwe also led the Vikings to a dominant showing on the glass Tuesday. Ibekwe grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to give him a near-double-double despite playing only 16.5 minutes.
The Vikings finished plus-43 as a team on the glass, out-rebounding the River Otters 67-to-24. That means the Vikings grabbed 73.6 percent of all rebounds in the game. What's more, the 67 rebounds set a new Viking Pavilion facility record, as it was seven more than the previous mark (60 rebounds against Northwest University on Dec. 8, 2020).
Once again, it was a team effort as 10 of the 13 Vikings who played Tuesday grabbed at least four rebounds. Beside Ibekwe, Pusateri and Skyttä added seven each while Nikonov, Pollard and
Charles Chukwu had five each.
The Vikings owned a 21-to-10 advantage on the offensive glass, which led to them outscoring the River Otters 25-0 in second-chance points.
"We talked about controlling the glass so that it was harder for them to get out in transition if we were getting offensive rebounds," Coburn said. "That's been a staple of Portland State basketball for a long time. It's one of the things, I think, when it comes to an identity that we're not willing to give up. We're going to crash the offensive glass and we're going to be physical on the defensive glass."
Defensively, the Vikings held the Rivers Otters to just 27.9 percent (19-for-68) from the field. While the River Otters made 10 three-pointers, they did so at only 29.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
The Vikings matched with 11 three-pointers of their own while doing so at a 39.3 percent clip. Frank had the hot hand early, making all four of his three-pointers in the first half. Kearney went 3-for-5 from three-point range, while Nikonov made both of his in the second half when he was 2-for-4 from deep.
The Vikings also matched the River Otters' pace. Lewis & Clark pressed the Vikings the whole game, and while they forced a few turnovers – 14 for the Vikings compared to nine for the Rivers Otters – the Vikings still out-scored the River Otters 21-3 in fast break points.
"We have to play our style and to our standard, no matter who we're playing and no matter what the score is," Coburn said. "We knew they were a talented offensive team that likes to play at a fast pace and they were going to get up a lot of threes. So, to be able to do what we did defensively, I was very pleased with that."
The schedule toughens up for the Vikings from here. They play four straight road games against teams picked to the finish in the top four of their respective conference. That stretch includes games at Seattle U (picked to finish fourth in the WCC) on Nov. 7, at Colorado State (picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12) on Nov. 11, at San Francisco (picked to finish third in the WCC) on Nov. 14 and at Saint Mary's (picked to finish second in the WCC) on Nov. 16.
"We know that this is arguably the toughest stretch of our schedule. We've got four teams that probably all have tournament aspirations and are very good in their own conference. It's kind of what we had to do," Coburn said.
"It'll be a good early test for this team."
GAME NOTES:
- The players and coaches on last year's team received their championship rings before the game.
- The Vikings have now won all five meetings with Lewis & Clark over the past 60 years. They're 24-18 all-time against the River Otters, with all but the five most recent meetings coming before 1966.
- The 111 points for the Vikings marked their first 100-point game since they beat Northwest Indian College, 122-74, on Nov. 7 last season.
- The Vikings outscored the River Otters 21-3 in fast break points.
