The Portland State Vikings smashed rivals Montana State Saturday in the Big Sky quarterfinal match at the Peter W. Stott Center. The Vikings took the lead early and held on to it throughout the match, leading to a 75-53 finish. The victory was a big turn around for the Vikings, who lost twice to Montana State this year in the regular season.
The Portland State Vikings smashed rivals Montana State Saturday in the Big Sky quarterfinal match at the Peter W. Stott Center. The Vikings took the lead early and held on to it throughout the match, leading to a 75-53 finish. The victory was a big turn around for the Vikings, who lost twice to Montana State this year in the regular season.
“As a team, we just wanted this so bad, especially after last year, you know, when we couldn’t get to the tournament,” senior forward Chehales Tapscott said. “So this year we just wanted it really bad. It’s more than basketball with us, you know. We need this for ourselves. We need this for our families. We want this.”
A fired-up crowd of 728 came to watch the playoff match. The Vikings dominated the stat sheet, continuing their home streak of winning the accuracy battle. The Vikings shot 52.2 percent from the field, an even 8 for 14 from three-point range and 19 of 24 percent free throws.
“I thought as a team with so many new guys that we’d start playing better as the year went on,” head coach Tyler Geving said. “And fortunately, we have.”
As the Vikings took a 10-point lead early in the first half, the audience settled back into their seats. They even put forward some scattered applause when Montana State guard Rod Singleton threw up a wild shot at with the buzzer, sinking a miraculous two pointer.
Coach Geving, by contrast, never seemed to relax. He paced in front of the bench, shouting encouragement with arms folded.
“Well ultimately, we learn from our mistakes,” Tapscott said. “We learned that. Because the second game, we had the lead on [Montana State], and we started throwing the ball away, we started getting lazy, lackadaisical. So this game, we got the lead, and we said, ‘Okay, let’s step on the gas. let’s keep pushing.’”
In contrast to previous games where the Vikings went into the half with the lead, on Saturday they played even better in the second half. They drew 22 fouls and improved in every measurement of accuracy.
“I was really happy with our defensive performance and rebounding,” Geving said. “I thought we played as hard as we could all year on the defensive end and I think that was a big key to our victory tonight.”
The Vikings took 39 rebounds Saturday and beat Montana State in every defensive category save steals. Tapscott led the field with 12 rebounds, but Renado Parker and Charles Odum were able to take nine and seven rebounds to add to their usual high-scoring stat sheets.
“A lot of us are so offensive-minded, so it’s like we want to contribute more on the offensive end than on the defensive end, you know,” Tapscott said. “But I think, as a unit, we’re starting to grow. And our biggest problem is team defense. That’s our biggest problem, so we’re starting to grow together. We’re starting to communicate more on the defensive end.”
The Bobcats rocketed across the court, led by top scorers Mohammed Fall and Christian Moon, but the Vikings forced them to play conservatively in PSU’s side of the court, slowing down their plays and forcing bad shots.
“I thought Michael Harthun did a great job defensively tonight,” Geving said. “I thought he was a big-time [player] on the defensive end, and he held their leading scorer to four points tonight. That was big. “
Geving said the team was going to focus on getting fresh and resting up before the next game.
“This time of the year I don’t know how much better you’re going to get at things,” Geving said. “I think you’ve just got to have a lot of energy, be fresh, and hopefully we’re ready to go.”
The Vikings will travel to Montana to face Weber State tonight in the Big Sky semifinals. This will be the second match in a row where the Vikings will face a team that swept them in the regular season. The match starts at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised on Altitude/CSN.
“They both beat us twice, and I’m not sure any team in the Big Sky is capable of beating us three times,” Tapscott said. “So hopefully we can get payback on both teams.”
