Next stop: Soccer championship

Call them hard working. Call them efficient. But whatever you do, call them the regular season conference champions.

That's the title the Portland State women's soccer team earned after closing the season out with a 4-1-2 conference record, and 10-6-3 overall. The Vikings continue into the postseason as conference champs for the second time in school history this weekend, when they will host the Big Sky Championship at PCC-Rock Creek.

The first semifinal match will feature Idaho State against Eastern Washington at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The first-placed Vikings will then square off against fourth-seeded Northern Arizona at 4 p.m. in a rematch of last year's semifinal. In that meeting, Northern Arizona trumped the Viks with a 1-0 victory.

The winners of each semifinal will have a day to rest before facing off in the championship match on Sunday at 11:00 a.m., with the winner earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This marks the third consecutive postseason appearance by the Vikings' soccer squad--a first in school history. In both 2007 and 2008, the Viks fell in the semifinals. The last time Portland State won the conference title was in 2004 with a record of 4-1-1. That year they lost to Weber State, 2-0, also in the semifinals.

Vikings look to be pulling away: lead 71-62

If your dancing shoes got a little dusty over the past 12 months, you better shine them up because it looks like the Vikings are pulling away from Montana State. A win, of course, would earn the club their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Men’s Basketball Preview: Big Sky Championship Edition

What: Portland State (22-9, 12-5 BSC) vs. Montana State (14-16, 7-10)
Where: Dee Events Center, Ogden, Utah
When: 7:30 p.m., Tonight
On the air: 800 AM KPDQ (audio, Tom Hewitt play-by-play), ESPN2 (Comcast channel 36)

Stars: Montana State has had an inconsistent year thus far, but when the Bobcats have played well it has been based heavily on the inside presence of senior All Big Sky center Divaldo Mbunga.

Mbunga, the Zach Randolph lookalike, is a force on the glass and on defense. In their win over Weber State he had 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal.

The Montana State backcourt tandem of Marquis Navarre and Will Bynum form a strong duo of players capable of running the offense and scoring. Combined, they average 15 points per game but have been effective in hounding opposing ball handlers with their quickness.

In addition to those three stars, Junior Branden Johnson was the player of the game for Montana State in their semifinal victory. The southpaw shooter hit four of his six threes en route to a team high 16 points.

Portland State will need a strong game from at least two of their perimeter players. In their semifinal victory over Idaho State, it was junior Dominic Waters who sparked the team in the first half and senior guard Andre Murray who brought the team to life in a stagnant second half.

A key matchup should be Johnson and Portland State junior forward Kyle Coston. Both players like to roam outside the three point line and three’s by either will help either team establish the spacing and tempo that both of these teams will want to play at.

Just a taste: An unlikely pairing, the two squads will meet for the third time this season, but this time a Big Sky Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament will be on the line.

Montana State has bulldozed through two of the top three seeds in the conference, all on the road, and will have an opportunity to knock off the Vikings and earn the school’s third ever trip to the Big Dance.

Portland State is making their second consecutive trip to the championship game and will have to give a more consistent effort should they earn a subsequent berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Vikings have struggled with consistency within games this season and only played well during the first half of their 61-53 semifinal victory over the Bengals.

The two teams split their matchups this season, with Montana State eking out a narrow three point victory in Bozeman and Portland State picking up a six point win at the Stott Center.

With host Weber State dropping their semifinal yesterday and nearby Idaho State also stumbling, the Big Sky Championship will likely be played in front of just a few hundred fans as neither Montana State nor Portland State looked well supported in their semifinal.

This will be the second time this season that the Vikings have appeared in a ESPN game. Portland State defeated Boise Stat on Feb. 21 in the other game.

The two squads met last in the Big Sky Tournament in 2007, when Portland State defeated the Bobcats, 96-71 in a quarterfinal game played at the Stott Center.

Favorites shocked: Weber State falls in a stunner to No. 6 seed Montana State

In a game that not a soul was bold enough to predict, Montana State defeated Weber State in the Big Sky Tournament Semifinals, 70-61.

The win advances Montana State, an unlikely participant, to the Big Sky Championship where they will face the No. 2 seeded Portland State in the championship game tomorrow evening. At stake will be a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the first for Montana State since 1996.

The Bobcats trounced the host Wildcats, who they had fallen to by 20 points just one week ago, behind a terrific defensive performance and sharpshooting from the perimeter.

Weber State managed to hit just four of their 26 three-point attempts while Montana State shot an efficient 40 percent from beyond the arc. The Wildcats shot just 33 percent from the field for the game and had just eight team assists.

“They played really hard,” Kellen McCoy, Weber State’s senior guard said. “We just didn’t hit our shots and they came in with a lot of heart. Everything changed from two weeks ago.”

The loss left the 5,162 in attendance devastated, and the host Wildcats wondering what went wrong.

Montana State, who barely snuck into the Big Sky Tournament, upset rival Montana in a road game last Saturday to earn their ticket to Ogden.

On Tuesday night, they made believers out of the rest of the conference by handing Weber State just their second loss of the conference season.

“Our guys persevered through a lot this season,” said Montana State head coach Brad Huse. “This win is exciting for our program, exciting for our university.”

The Big Sky MVP, McCoy, had an off-night and was hounded by defensive pressure from Marquis Navarre and Will Bynum. McCoy finished with just 16 points but struggled from the perimeter and hit just four of 10 field goal attempts. He also had six turnovers.

Navarre and Bynum had 17 total points and joined Branden Johnson, Erik Rush and Divaldo Mbunga in holding off a furious Weber State rally in the waning moments.

The Weber State freshman combination of Damian Lillard and Kyle Bullinger that spurned Big Sky opponents during the regular season was held in check for the majority of the game. They combined for just 10 total points.

Momentum may have swung as early as the final moments of the first half when a Bynum steal led to a thunderous transition dunk over Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, Weber State forward Daviin Davis.

Bynum’s play and the subsequent technical foul he earned for jawing with Davis infuriated the crowd but ignited a strong run by the Bobcats to close the half.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Weber State will continue their season in the NIT. Due to the defeat, the Wildcats will claim the conference’s automatic bid to the tournament and could possibly host a first-round game next week.

Montana State will move on to keep their streaking run through the Big Sky Tournament with a chance to take their lackluster 13-16 record to the NCAA Tournament with a victory over Portland State tomorrow night.

Vikings Stumble into Big Sky Championship

Written by: Tom Sedun, Vanguard staff

Ogden, Utah- For the second consecutive season, the Portland State Vikings have reached the Big Sky conference tournament championship game. And for the second consecutive year they reached the conference championship by defeating Idaho State.

The Vikings were able to pull out a 61-53 victory in front of 2779 at the Dee Events Center on the campus of Weber State.

The road back to the final did not come easy for the Vikings who let Idaho State rally from a 19-point halftime deficit.

“Well it wasn’t the prettiest of games but we are glad that we were able to win,” said Portland State head coach Ken Bone. “It feels great to be back in the championship game. It’s something we have been striving for all season long.”

Andre Murray led all scorers with 24 points and scored 13 of Portland State’s 19 points in the second half. “They were beating us in transition,” Murray said. “I felt I needed to score the ball for us.”

Portland State went on a 22-2 run in the first half to give the defending Big Sky champions a 42-23 halftime advantage, Phil Nelson scored 12 of his 14 in the first half.

But much like their earlier meeting in Pocatello, the Bengals opened the second half with an 18-3 run and had all the momentum late in the ball game.

“I told the guys that this game was just like that one. Idaho State is a very good team and could have very well been in the championship game,” Bone said.

With the Bengals only trailing the Vikings by three with Jeremiah Dominguez sealed the Portland State victory by hitting three free throws, all in the final minute.

“It’s great we are back in the championship game,” said the first team all Big Sky guard. “But we need to play focused for forty minutes in order to win tomorrow.”

Even though the game was not the finest performance from the Vikings, the victory was satisfying enough, at least for one night.

“A win is a win,” said Andre Murray. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a blowout or by one point, I’ll take it.”

Vikings grab No. 2 seed in conference tourney and something special for the second week in a row...

After four straight wins to close the regular season, the men's basketball team earned a first round bye in the Big Sky Tournament and will not open the tournament until the semifinals next Tuesday night.

If the chalk holds out, and its a safe assumption, you can bet that PSU will likely take on Montana in that semifinal game. My feelings about the squad not playing until nine days from now are mixed.

Another home game and you obviously have the chance to keep improving and continue perfecting the offensive scheme of working inside-out. But of course there is always the possibility that the Vikings could lose that game and given the fact that they got beat by Montana State (who would have been their opponent) in Bozeman earlier in the year, it might be a good thing.

Anyhow, we will definitely have a more thorough breakdown of the Big Sky Tournament later this week. As for now, on to other things...

Last week our guest commentator, a Portland State student and fan, made known his feelings about the fans that made their presence known in front of the ESPN cameras... This week he is ranting about another itch: the possible renovation of the Stott Center.

Feelings around campus are mixed. As any observer could tell you, the student section is hardly full and rarely boisterous. Why should we quadruple the seating capacity of the gym when it does not sellout currently?

Well our man Marnix has a solid take on it.

There are many who feel that the Stott Center Renovation is a pointless and wasteful project that Portland State shouldn’t waste there time with. To those “nay sayers” I would like you to think about the following…

As the men’s team wraps up their 2008-2009 season with a 12-1 home record and the women’s team going 13-2, I don’t see any reason why the athletes that represent the PSU colors on the hard-court don't deserve to play in a legitimate gymnasium.

If money is the issue maybe we should take some money from “high-profile” but under-performing coaches (Glanville) or programs (football).

If your complaint is that Portland State should focus on academics, I would propose the notion that investing and building a national athletics program is the road to such an idea. Think about it, outside of the Ivy League schools, all the national powerhouses in either football or basketball are considered to have highly reputable academic institutions.

For example, USC with Football, Duke or North Carolina with Basketball, or Texas that dominates in just about every athletic event are all highly regarded academically in addition to being powerhouses in sports.

Whether or not they are good at academics because they are good at sports is not a concrete correlation, but the fact that its works more times than not is a compelling idea.

With that said, I guess I look forward to coming back to campus in a couple of years and seeing the new beautiful stadium the athletic department is working so diligently to build.

Then again, actually filling the new, larger stadium will be a different story (see my posting from Tuesday, Feb. 24).

A decent effort from Marnix in his second such posting of the year... We'll leave you today with a pretty solid youtube video of Northern Idaho Junior College point guard Melvin Jones hitting an impressive shot to help his current squad defeat CSI, which I believe stands for College of Southern Idaho and not something else.

Who is Melvin Jones? Possibly the man who will replace Jeremiah Dominguez as the Vikings starting point guard next season.

Who's going to Ogden? Big Sky Tournament update...

As we head into the final week of the regular season much of the conference tournament field is being narrowed down. We already now that the Big Sky Tournament will be at the Dee Events Center in Ogden and Weber State will be the host.

Up to this point the Wildcats have looked downright dominant. While Lillard and Bullinger get a bunch of credit and McCoy seems like a lock for POY, Weber State is the team that they are because of a strong inside game from Steve Panos and real leadership from senior guard Daviin Davis, who you can catch a glimpse of his athleticism on this video.

Anyhow I thought it would be good to break down the tournament scenarios for everybody...Here goes:

# 1 Seed: Weber State- (see above).

#2 Seed: Likely Montana-The Griz are 11-4 after taking down Idaho State on Saturday. They play at Northern Colorado on Thursday and control their own destiny. If they win, they are the automatic No. 2 seed. If they lose... that's when things get interesting.

#3 Seed: Portland State- The Vikings have a home game against Montana State on Wednesday, and it's certainly no gimme. If Portland State can play like they did against Boise State on Saturday: inspired and confident they should get a win. The tougher test might come on Saturday when they play at Eastern Washington, a team that could be fighting for its playoff lives.

#4 Seed: Idaho State- The Pocatello pokies seem poised to host another Big Sky Tournament game. They have two easy games this week to wrap up the regular season.

#5 Seed: Montana State- The Bobcats still have three games remaining but will probably find a way to get wins in at least two of them. The game of the year could be Saturday when Montana State travels to Greeley to take on the Bears with the playoffs on the line.

#6 Seed: Northern Colorado- Not sure why I have the Bears here ahead of Eastern Washington, but I feel strongly that they will be able to get at least one victory out of the Montana schools this week. Eastern Washington has the misfortune of having just one conference game left- against Portland State, a team that they do not match up with very well...

We'll of course know more after this week... In fact we'll know everything.

If my guesses are correct, the Vikings would host Northern Colorado in a rematch of last week's game that went down to the final buzzer and Idaho State would take on Montana State in Pocatello. My guess is that the chalk would advance and you would be looking at a pretty solid Big Sky Final Four.

Wanted to let everybody know that we will have a feature post from a new guest writer later tonight or sometime soon. Unlike the Vanguard sports section staff, he is not a partial writer covering a team, but is instead a fan and wants his voice to be heard. More details later...

Basketball squads prepare for stretch run

With their mid-season "hump" game coming up this weekend against Eastern Washington both the men's and women's basketball squads are preparing for a string of games that will likely decide their post-season fates.

The men will take on Eastern Washington this weekend in the Stott Center. The Eagles are a talented squad but seem to be playing inconsistent and outside of talented transfer Benny Valentine should not be able to run with the Vikings. Here's a shot of Benny being "educated" by former Texas Tech head coach Bobby Knight.After this weekends contest the Vikings play four of their next six on the road in the most hostile environments that the Big Sky can offer in the Montana road swing and then facing Weber State and Idaho State.

If Portland State can slide through that stretch undefeated, they will solidify themselves again as the conference's toughest team and likely claim the right to host the Big Sky Tournament again.

The women also take on the Eagles on Saturday and then face the Montana schools at home next weekend. It looks like the race for the Big Sky on the women's side will come down to either Portland State and Montana.

Both squads have looked dominant up to this point in Big Sky play. If the Vikings can get take the first matchup between the two teams they obviously have the upper hand heading into the stretch run of games.

Portland State fans could have the opportunity to cheer on both teams in the Rose City as they both vie for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

On a different note, men's basketball beat writer pointed out a scheduling quirk that could keep the Vikings from hosting the Big Sky Tournament in the Rose Garden as they did last season.

The tournament, scheduled to be played during the second week of March, would have to work around the Blazers scheduled games that week on Monday and Wednesday.

It seems likely that the squad may just play earlier in the day, although that will probably screw up all the television contracts and such or that the tournament will be moved to Memorial Coliseum.

Or we could ask the Pilots if they mind sparing their gym for some championship level basketball...







Here's some food for thought links that taste way better than a student-run vegan cafe....

Statistical analysis that the Cardinals suck. Or at least, the television ratings of Cardinals games suck compared to prior seasons. Of course these numbers dwarf any other sports playoff games.

The Week in Quotes from Football Outsiders...

I think we forget that The Oregonian has some pretty talented sports writers outside of Canzano and J Quick. Here is Mike Tokito's piece on Brandon Roy getting his jersey retired at Washington last night.

On to more depressing news of the NBA, Wally Szczerbiak's big contract apparently doesn't help him find clothes for a grown man playing in the league.

In other disturbing roundball news, Chris Tomasson has a story on the potential that 2010 could be remebered not as the year of Lebron James moving to New York, but as the year of the lockout... As in NBA lockout... Yikes.

And in a sad story it looks like Jefferson County in Kentucky will be making an example of a football coach who, allegedly, pushed his football players too far during the heat of a summer practice. Here is the story.