Portland State Hangs on For Win Over Montana, 70-68

Juma Kamara led the Vikings with 17 points.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

Missoula, MT - Paul Hafford made two free throws with 26 seconds left in the game to break a tie and give Portland State an important Big Sky Conference road victory over Montana, 70-68.

It was only the second time in 11 seasons the Vikings have won in Missoula, and it improved their record to 6-5 in Big Sky play, 15-9 overall.

The Grizzlies dropped to 11-11, 5-4.

The Vikings got off to a hot start, jumping to a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes.

Juma Kamara had 10 of the Vikings’ first 18 points, and the score was 21-10 following a free throw by Dupree Lucas at the 11:46 mark.

Montana closed to within three midway through the half, but the Vikings went on another 12-2 run to lead 38-25 with 2:41 left.

PSU went into the locker room with a 41-31 lead after shooting 54% from the field, including 4-5 from three-point range. Kamara had 14 points at the break.

The Vikings biggest lead came at the 14:08 mark on a free throw by Kamara. At that point, PSU was ahead 56-41.

Montana crawled back into the game over the next 10 minutes and took a lead for the first time, 67-66, at the 2:33 mark on a three-point field goal by Stuart Mayes.

Anthony Washington made a pair of free throws with 1:45 to put the Vikings back up by a point.

A Jordan Hasquet free throw at the 1:18 mark tied the game at 68.

Hafford’s free throws were the only points in the final minute as Montana’s Andrew Strait missed a shot in the closing seconds.

Kamara led the Vikings with 17 points, hitting 6-9 shots from the field. Deonte Huff tied his season-high with 15 points and six rebounds.

PSU shot .473 from the field, compared to .436 for the Grizzlies.

The Vikings also won the battle of the boards, 37-30.

PSU did a good job of shutting down Montana’s Strait, who was the team’s leading scorer entering the game.

Hasquet went for a season-high 25 points to make up for it.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports