Leading up to Portland State’s quarterfinal matchup with Montana State in the Big Sky Men’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday, one question stood on everyone’s minds: Would senior guard Dominic Waters start?
Waters, Portland State’s leader in points and assists, injured his left heel during the final game of the regular season and was listed as doubtful going into Saturday. Head coach Tyler Geving even posted on his Twitter feed that backup point guard Dane Johnson needed to be ready for the biggest game of his life.
But Montana State head coach Brad Huse was prepared just in case his squad had to face a Waters-led Viking charge. “I’m not going to believe all I read on electronic media,” Huse said in a radio interview prior to the game.
Waters indeed got the start, but he wasn’t the player Huse should have worried about.
With the score tied and the final seconds running off the clock, junior guard Melvin Jones hit a three-pointer with 3.7 seconds remaining to give the Vikings a 68–65 win over the Bobcats, and a ticket to the Big Sky semifinals.
The upset over third-seeded Montana State advances Portland State (13–18, 7–9 Big Sky) to the conference semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. They will next face regular season champion Weber State for a spot in the championship game.
“This time of the year, the coaches just try to put guys in the right spot and a guy has got to make a play,” Geving said in a statement released by the school. “We made a good defensive play, and then Melvin Jones made a big-time three.”
Both teams fought back and forth for the entire 40 minutes of play, and the lead changed hands a total of 18 times, but it was in the final minute that the game was decided.
With 1:05 remaining, the Bobcats took a two-point lead then stole the ball from Portland State on the next possession. Montana State’s Marquis Navarre hustled to the rim for a fast break, but senior forward Julius Thomas made his second block of the night to keep PSU in the game. A MSU foul on the rebound sent junior forward Paul Guede to the free throw line with 34 seconds left, where he hit both shots to tie the game at 65-all.
The Bobcats took possession and had a chance to pull out the win, but Portland State’s strong defensive pressure forced a turnover to give the Vikings the ball. Waters—who chalked eight points, five assists and a steal on the night—fed the ball to Jones in the game-deciding play.
Jones recalled the final possession during a postgame radio interview.
“I’m standing in the corner and the coach is on the bench yelling ‘Melvin, be ready to shoot. Be ready to shoot,’ ” Jones said. “Dom makes the nice pass to me, and as soon as I catch it, I just catch and shoot…I’m happy it went in. I was not trying to go into overtime. I wanted the win.”
Defensive pressure kept the game within reach for the Vikings. They held Montana State, who had shot over .500 in both of the season’s prior meetings, to .396 from the field and .345 from beyond the arc. The Vikings shot just .468 on the night and .421 from downtown, but scored 17 points off Montana State turnovers.
Thomas led all scorers with 19 points to tie a career high, and also grabbed six boards. Jones scored 17, including the game-winner, and tallied three rebounds and two steals.
Saturday’s game also saw two school records broken. Thomas became the school’s new record holder for career games played with 120, and at just over a minute into the contest, senior forward Jamie Jones blocked his 71st shot of the season to become Portland State’s new record holder for single-season blocks.
The race for Portland State’s third straight Big Sky Tournament title, and with it the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, continues tonight. No. 6 seed Vikings take on No. 1 Weber State on the Wildcats’ home court in Ogden, Utah.
Tip-off is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be televised on the Altitude network. Live stats will be available at www.goviks.com.
Scores by period
1st 2nd Total
Portland State 29 39 68
Montana State 29 36 65