Taking care of business

With an opportunity to exact a little revenge against Montana State, the Vikings did not disappoint and defeated the Bobcats 64-58 in front of 1,262 at the Stott Center.

Although the victory assures the squad of no worse than a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference regular season and was a nice memento for the three seniors that were honored before the tipoff, at times Portland State looked sluggish and out of sync.

“It was a good thing we won the game,” said head coach Ken Bone, who has now led the Vikings to a second consecutive 20-win season. “But for this time of the year we should be better than that.”

An Andre Murray three-pointer and a Jeremiah Dominguez jumper highlighted a 9-0 run in the first half as the Vikings took a commanding 22-11 lead. Murray and Dominguez were two of the seniors honored before the game, along with reserve guard Mickey Polis.

“It was nice playing in front of my friends and family who have supported me all year,” said Dominguez, who finished with a game-high 17 points. “There is still a lot of work ahead of us though”

After Montana State junior guard Will Bynum hit a running three-pointer at the end of the first half, Portland State held an eight-point advantage (31-23) headed into the break. Bynum would finish the game with 16 points.

Montana State would use the momentum created by Bynum’s big shot as a catalyst to start the second half strong, as the team went on a 13-5 run and trimmed the Vikings lead to just three points at 36-33.

But junior guard Dominic Waters provided a much-needed spark for the home squad. Waters scored seven consecutive points on a 10-2 run and increased the lead to 11-points.

Moments later, Waters sealed the victory after he hit another key three-pointer, one of 12 for the home squad, and gave Portland State a 17-point lead.

“I was just trying to be aggressive and get the team going,” Waters said, who finished with 12 points and a team-high five assists. “This was a huge win for us heading into the conference tournament.”

The Vikings will wrap up Big Sky play this Saturday night when they will travel to Eastern Washington.

The game will be the final tune-up before postseason play begins for Portland State either on March 7 or March 10, depending on how Montana finishes their schedule this week.

When asked about what he expected from his team in their final game against an Eastern Washington team that could be playing for their own playoff berth, Bone said he needs to continue to see improvement from his squad.
“I want to see a focused team play hard.”