Men’s basketball prevails in home opener

The Portland State Men’s Basketball team rallied past the Brisbane Capitals in the fourth quarter for a final score of 81-72 Monday night in the Peter W. Stott Center.

The Vikings were able to shoot exceptionally well, 45 percent for the game, as they cruised to a 4-3 lead from the tip-off. The Vikings were scared a few times during the game when their leads were diminished. PSU led by as many as 16 at one stretch, but Brisbane would not go away easily cutting the lead down to as little as four in the final quarter of play.

Senior wing/forward Anthony Lackey led the way scoring 26 points on the night. Lackey shot 9-16 from the floor also connecting on 50 percent of his three-point attempts (3-6). Helping with the scoring load was transfer wing Jeb Ivey who pitched in 19 points including five from behind the arc. Fellow forward Seamus Boxley played a solid game inside, and all-around. Boxley was able to score 15 points, not to be overshadowed by his effort on the glass adding 13 boards. John Glaser lead from the point, dishing out eight assists with only two turnovers. Three true-freshmen, Aaron Fitzgerald, Billy Feeney and Troy DeVeries were able to contribute valuable game action off the bench as well. One bright spot for the Capitals was guard Scott Lloyd who kept Brisbane close and finished with 23 points on the night.

“Seamus and Anthony played great. Some of our guys can play better, but it was only the first game, there were a lot of nerves out there,” head coach Joel Sobotka said.

“We want to attack on offense, but leave turnovers to a minimum, which is something we have worked on a lot. We only had 15 in Monday’s game, which wasn’t too bad.”

Traveling from Canada, Simon Fraser will be Portland State’s next exhibition game Monday at 7 p.m. in the Stott Center.

“They’re (Simon Fraser) well coached by Scott Clark, and they always have talented players, so we’ll see,” Sobotka said.