The Viking men, suffering from a serious lack of stamina, ran out of steam in the second half of last Saturday’s game against the Eastern Washington Eagles.
The Vikings will need to put out more than fast action in the first half, to outplay the Weber State Wildcats this Thursday, January 29 in the Stott Center at 7:05 p.m.
Portland State is now 8-10 overall and 2-3 in the Big Sky, but they need to relearn the art of playing both good offense and good defense if they are to get back to winning.
The Wildcats are 9-9 overall, and after beating Sacramento State this past Saturday (65-54), they are 2-3 in the Big Sky.
Let me remind you Viking fans, PSU lost to the Hornets last week 76-64. If the Viking men want this win, they had better come to play.
Weber State has four key players this season. Slobodan Ocokoljic averages 15.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. In a recent win against Sacramento State, Ocokoljic had 13 points, and 6 rebounds.
In the Wildcats’ first Big Sky win (76-61) against Montana, Ocokoljic led his team to the win with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Lance Allred contributed 10 points in the Montana game. He had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Sacramento State, and he averages 11.6 points. Nick Sparrow and Pat Danley are also players to watch out for they average 11.3 , 11.1 points respectively.
All four of these Weber State players are likely to be seen on the court for most of the game this Thursday. This means the Vikings had better play strong the entire game, not just the first half!
Let’s take a look at Saturday’s game against Eastern Washington. Portland State lost to the Eagles 71-63 in the second half of the game. Perhaps the Vikings were a bit rusty after not playing for a whole week or it could have been their the lack of defense; whatever it was it cost the team a win on its home court.
The Vikings shot only 43.1 percent. The lead changed five times throughout the game, but that ended up being too much for the Vikings. Six Viking players had four personal fouls and PSU’s number-one-gun, Seamus Boxley, had five.
Junior Antone Jarrell had 11 points, four turnovers and three steals. One beautiful shot made in the second half was news-worthy for sure; Jarrell was coming in for the rebound, and while in the air he happened to grab hold of the ball only to shoot and score. It was quick and lucky, but it looked very skilled.
Seamus Boxley had 12 points, 12 rebounds, four turnovers and a whopping five personal fouls. Shortly before the first half ended, Boxley slammed the ball into the basket after an assist from senior John Glaser. Boxley immediately scored another two points, again on an assist from John Glaser. Boxley recorded his eighth double-double for the season in Saturday’s game.
Freshman Marshall Hartman brought 11 points to the scoreboard and had three steals. Hartman played only 21 minutes of the game, and was 2-3 on three-point shots, 3-3 for free throws, and 3-5 for field goals.
Senior Seth Scott raked in 12 points and five rebounds. Scott tied the game for a few seconds in the second half of the game with a fierce dunk off an assist from junior Blake Walker. Walker had only nine points, two assists and made only one of five attempted three-point shots.
Alvin Snow is the leading scorer for the Eagles, but in Saturday’s game he had only 12 points. Snow also raked in only four rebounds and had four personal fouls. The hot-shooter for the Eagles on Saturday was Brendon Merritt with 16 points and three steals.
Merritt played an aggressive second half, as he went away at the end of the game with four personal fouls. One of these three steals led to a slamdunk in the second half. It was one of those steals that comes out of nowhere, but Merritt was already off and running before the Vikings knew how to respond.
In the last few minutes of the game, Merritt endured a shoulder injury off a foul, which caused him to sit the bench the rest of the game.
Matt Nelson had 10 points and six rebounds. Josh Barnard also had 10 points and seven assists.
Saturday’s game was close and crucial, as will be this Thursday’s match against Weber State. Don’t miss the action this week in the Stott Center.