Waters douses the Lumberjacks

Over the last few weeks, the Portland State men’s basketball team has persevered through a treacherous traveling schedule, a snow-riddled holiday season away from family and played seven of their last eight games on the road in four different states.
   
However, through the adversity the Vikings have still not lost sight of their goal of winning the Big Sky Conference and reaching the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.

Portland State finished 5-3 during games over winter break, highlighted by the program’s first-ever victory over a ranked squad when they defeated Gonzaga in Spokane on Dec. 23, 77-70.

The Vikings took their winning ways to the road over the weekend, dismantling Sacramento State before edging out Northern Arizona in a quadruple overtime thriller, 91-90.

“It’s been an exhausting three weeks, but we were able to persevere,” said head coach Ken Bone.

With the victory against Northern Arizona, the Vikings have started conference play at 3-0 and continued an impressive streak of winning 17 straight conference games going back to an impressive finish to last season.   

Facing an unparalleled task of taking on the toughest schedule in school history, the Vikings started the break with consecutive road losses to Washington and Cal Poly.

But a dominant home victory, in front of just 415 fans that braved the snowy elements on Dec. 20, in the conference opener against Montana may have given the Vikings the confidence boost that the squad needed.

Heading into the difficult task of facing Gonzaga in Spokane, the Vikings had to battle the elements—the team’s flight was cancelled and the squad bussed to Spokane through Seattle—and history as Portland State had not defeated the Bulldogs on the road since 1971.

The victory over Gonzaga was a signature moment in the athletic history of the university and the squad had another opportunity to take down a ranked team, but fell to Baylor, 79-66.

The difficult road tests helped the squad develop the mental toughness needed to pull out a gritty win in Flagstaff this Sunday. Against Northern Arizona, the Vikings dug themselves a hole trailing the Lumberjacks at halftime, 36-20.

Northern Arizona appeared to be playing with more energy and taking advantage of the heavy-legged and road weary Vikings.

But like many games this season, the Vikings adjusted and responded in the second half, starting with a 17-2 run.

Despite never leading in regulation, Waters scored eights points in the final 2:25, including a running layup with eight seconds remaining, to force the game into overtime.

The teams traded momentum in each of the overtime periods with both squads building a lead, only to see it squandered on turnovers and missed shots.

While it was Waters’ late game heroics that propelled the Vikings down the stretch, Zarko Comagic made play after play to keep Northern Arizona in the game. Comagic finished the game with 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Lumberjacks.

But in the waning moments of the fourth overtime, the 59th minute of the game, Waters drove the right baseline and drew a foul to send the former Grant High School star to the line where he made both free throws to give Portland State the dramatic victory.

Waters’ 41-point performance tied the school record for the most points since basketball returned to Portland State in 1996. The complete player may come off the bench as the team’s sixth man but his all-around skills ensure his role as more than a contributor for the squad.

“He did a great job scoring the basketball,” Bone said. “Our guys did well screening the ball for him [Waters] and recognizing he was the guy with the hot hand.”

In addition to Waters historic performance, Jeremiah Dominguez played a terrific all-around game, finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Dominguez and Waters were a combined 11 for 19 from three-point range.

The victory keeps the Vikings in the driver’s seat in the early part of the Big Sky regular season as the squad battled through some adversity for the win.

“This game, as well as Gonzaga, plus the conference tournament games last season, are testaments of our character,” Bone said. “This game [Northern Arizona] was awesome. It was a gut check for our team.”