Huff Leads Vikings to Win over Idaho State and Big Sky Tournament

Portland State wraps up the regular season 18-12 overall.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

PORTLAND - A dominant Deonte Huff led the Portland State Vikings to a 70-63 Big Sky Conference win over the Idaho State Bengals and, ultimately, the Big Sky Tournament.

Huff, a 6-4 guard, posted 18 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in the win as the Viking clinched a postseason berth.

The Vikings wrapped up their Big Sky season with a 9-7 record.

PSU temporarily moves into fifth place in the conference standings, but with seven more games to be played among other teams in the league the Vikings could finish as high as third or as low as sixth.

If PSU moves up to third or fourth it will host a Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal round game next Saturday at the Stott Center.

If PSU finishes fifth or sixth it will travel to a quarterfinal game at a site to be determined.

Things looked bad early as the Vikings fell behind 26-12 in the first eight minutes.

Idaho State hit its first five three-point field goals in building a 14-point lead.

The Vikings roared back with a 26-7 run to close out the half, allowing just one ISU field goal over the last 9:44 of the half.

Stretching into the second half, the Vikings scored 19 straight points.

When the Bengals' David Schroeder finally hit a three-pointer with 12:59 to play it ended a span of nine minutes and 23 seconds without a field goal for the Bengals.

Idaho State brought it back to a 49-49 tie at the 8:11 mark, but PSU was solid down the stretch.

Along with Huff's fine play, Emmanuel Jenkins scored eight points in the final minutes.

Although they struggled at the line early in the game, the Vikings hit nine of their last 12 free throws to prevent a Bengal comeback.

Portland State shot only .393 from the field, but held Idaho State to just 19-57 (.333).

PSU also had 18 offensive rebounds, scoring 17 second-chance points.

Huff's 18 rebounds was the most by a Viking since PSU brought back basketball in 1996-97 and joined the Big Sky Conference.

The school record is 26, set by Bernie Jones in 1959.

Paul Hafford led Portland State with 19 points, hitting five three-pointers in the game.

Jenkins was the only other Viking in double figures with 10.

Schroeder and Logan Kinghorn led Idaho State with 17 points each.

Center Nicholas Rhodes had a big rebounding effort for the Bengals, grabbing 19, including 10 on the offensive glass.

Portland State wraps up the regular season 18-12 overall.

The Vikings were 11-3 at home, winning their last two games.

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