Men’s basketball opens season with a win

The Portland State men’s basketball team saw its first action of the year on Friday night, as the Vikings beat Concordia University 96-93 in an exhibition at the Stott Center. Sophomore guard Dre Winston Jr. led PSU in his first game as a Viking, contributing 25 points in 36 minutes of play. Senior guard Lateef McMullan added 17 points and 6 assists.

Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf

Rising to the occasion: Senior forward Martin Whitmore elevates for a bucket against Concordia on Friday.

The game came down to the final minute, with PSU trailing 93-92. Vikings senior forward Renado Parker scored with fewer than 30 seconds left to take the lead, and after a missed shot and an offensive rebound for Concordia, Winston stole the ball and scored to close out the victory.

“The guys have been working hard,” head coach Tyler Geving said. “If they can do that night in and night out, we’re going to be OK. I’m glad our guys have shown that in practice so far. We’ve had good practices and good energy.”

Going into last night’s game, Geving hoped that the team would be able to remain healthy and play well on the defensive end.

“We’ve been a little banged up in the fall,” Geving said. “I want to see us play hard; I want to see us compete. This time of the year, the defense should be ahead of the offense a little bit.”

Along with defense, Geving has been focusing on the boards. “I want to be a good rebounding team,” he said. “That’s important to us. At the end of the day, I want to make big strides in defense and rebounding, and that will make our offense better.”

PSU continues its 2012–13 campaign at home against Pacific University this Friday. Geving and the Vikings are setting their sights high this year—an NCAA tournament bid is the team’s primary
objective.

“That’s everyone’s goal,” Geving said. “If we give [a] good effort and play hard, we’ve got a good chance to make a run at the tournament.”