Homecoming road warriors

The Portland State men’s basketball team recently wrapped up their longest road trip of the season. It took them from Sacramento to Bozeman, Mont., and at first glance, the 2-2 record the Vikings bring home feels like a pretty good split.

“Big picture, when we went on the road we were four and four [in conference play], and we had four games on the road,” head coach Ken Bone said before embarking on the trip. “Looking at it, I thought then that if we split, if we could get two, that would be great. We beat two good teams, two real quality teams.”

Just how they would get those two wins, however, came as a bit of a surprise. The teams the Vikings should’ve beat, they fell to, but as underdogs they came on strong.

On Jan. 26, the team headed south to take on the Sacramento State Hornets, one of the poorer teams in the Big Sky Conference. But what would’ve seemed a feast for the hot Vikings turned into something else.

Shooting well above their average, Sacramento State built a 17-point lead in the second half. To their credit, the Vikings, who were down 10 points with less than two minutes remaining, fought back and closed the deficit to two.

But the late-game run would be too little, too late. Portland State fell 97-93. Still, head coach Ken Bone and his team were not shaken by the upset.

“[Sacramento State’s] win-loss record is not very good, but they really came out well against us. They shot the ball extremely well. They just lit it up,” he said.

The next day, the Vikings traveled to battle the then first-place Idaho State Bengals. In Pocatello, the story of the night before veritably reversed itself.

This time it was the Vikings who led by 18 in the second half and the Bengals who raced back, closing the gap in the game’s final seconds. Thanks to a number of clutch free throws, Portland State held on for the 67-65 victory.

Indeed, hanging on for the win at Idaho State was a relief. Over the final 9:19 of the game the Vikings did not make a single shot from the field.

Led by senior guard Paul Hafford, who hit five of his six three-point attempts, Portland State nailed nine of their 18 tries from downtown. Hafford finished with 21 points.

The next stop, Feb. 2, against the Montana Grizzlies, wouldn’t be any easier for the Vikings. But in Missoula, just as in Idaho, the Vikings refused to let go of their lead no matter how tenuous it seemed at times.

Portland State led by as many as 15 in the second half before the Grizzlies made a game that probably should’ve been a barnburner. Continuing the trend of the road trip, Paul Hafford’s clutch free throws in the final seconds saved the day. Juma Kamara scored a team-high 17.

Beating Montana was not only special because the Grizzlies had knocked off the Vikings on their home floor earlier this year-it was only the second time in 11 years that Portland State has won in Missoula.

So with a win over the Grizzlies, currently ranked second in the Big Sky, it would appear the Vikings had all the momentum to topple Montana State that Saturday. But the Bobcats brought along not only their sharpshooters, but also a bit of luck.

Over the course of just 72 seconds, the Bobcats erased a 10-point Viking lead.

“All of a sudden we don’t score on two possessions, and they make three three’s and it’s a one-point game,” said coach Bone of Montana State’s miraculous comeback. “It was just boom, boom, boom.”

The Bobcats went on to win 79-71.

And though the Vikings saw leads evaporate in the two wins over Idaho State and Montana State and the loss at Montana State, coach Bone does not see a trend.

“Anytime you get a lead on a good team on their home court with time left in the game, they’re going to make a run. It’s inevitable,” he said, expounding that parity among the teams in the Big Sky often belie records.

But of course, there are exceptions to the rule. The Vikings play host to the conference-leading Weber State Wildcats (9-3) this Thursday in the Stott Center at 7 p.m.

“Weber State is really good. There’s a reason why they’re in first place,” coach Bone said. “They play extremely hard. They’re just clicking on all cylinders right now and we’re going to have our hands full.”