The Dam Cup series continues as the Portland State men’s basketball team hosts Eastern Washington Saturday in the first of two meetings this season.
Despite a losing effort in football, the Vikings lead the series 5-4 after picking up wins over the Eagles in soccer and volleyball earlier in the academic year. However, the basketball team is eager to make its contribution.
“It’s a rival game,” head coach Tyler Geving said. “The guys want to have a little bragging rights, so hopefully that’s an added factor.”
“It just makes [the game] that much more exciting,” added senior guard Melvin Jones.
As the Eagles make the 300-mile drive into Portland, passing the four major dams along their way (the Bonneville, Dalles, John Day, and McNary Dams), they’ll likely try to avoid thinking about the recent past: Eastern Washington (4-9 overall, 1-1 Big Sky) has lost five straight games against Portland State and are 0-6 on the road this season.
The Vikings (8-6 overall, 1-1 Big Sky) aren’t allowing themselves to get overconfident, as the team looks for its first home-win in the Big Sky.
“We have to go into the game just like any other game,” Jones said. “If we want to keep up our winning streak against them, we have to take them seriously.”
“It doesn’t matter if [the game is] home or away,” Geving reminded. “If you’re not ready to play, as we’ve seen already, you get embarrassed.”
Looking to rebound from a loss in their conference home opener, the Vikings will need to focus on controlling the pace of the game, which starts by controlling the glass and winning the turnover battle. Portland State is 7-1 this season when it has the better turnover margin. Also, Eastern Washington plays a high-octane, perimeter-oriented offense, which is similar to Portland State’s style.
“A lot of times we beat ourselves with [turnovers],” Geving said.
“We have to be the smarter team,” Jones said. “Reduce turnovers, win the rebound margin, and since they play like us, we really need to control the tempo.”
“The keys to the game will be defense and rebounding,” said Chris Harriel, the team’s leading scorer. “With rebounding, we can limit their second chance points…and our defense hasn’t been great the last few games, so we need to [improve].”
Harriel comes off a career-high 25 points in the team’s last outing against Idaho State, but the sophomore shooting-guard understands that there’s more to winning than just making buckets. Harriel has hit 31 shots from beyond the arc, including a handful of clutch 3-pointers, but has also contributed 4.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals this season.
“This year I’m getting a lot more opportunities,” Harriel noted. “All summer I worked hard on my game, worked on my jumper and worked on my handles. I worked hard to just try and improve.”
Junior transfer Charles Odum has been a pleasant surprise on the season as well. The athletic combo guard has provided a boost of energy to the roster and has scored in the double-figures in 11 of 14 games so far. Odum is second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
“Both [Harriel and Odum] are playing extremely well, and they’re both very confident kids,” Geving said. “They’re the two hardest working players [on the team]; when they step on the court I never have to question if they’re going to play hard or not.”
The Vikings will surely need their best efforts this Saturday. Even though the Eagles have struggled this season, anything can happen in a rivalry game and emotions are sure to be intensified.
“Whatever I can do to help the team win, I’m willing to do,” Harriel added. “It’s a war out there basically, and I’ll do whatever is needed.” ?