Weber State (11-3) at Portland State (7-8)
GAME NOTES: Appearing as one of the teams to beat in the Big Sky Conference this season, the Weber State Wildcats take their perfect 3-0 league mark on the road tonight to challenge the Portland State Vikings at the Stott Center.
Weber State, the only team in the conference with double-digit wins overall entering the weekend, joins Montana as the only team in the Big Sky yet to lose a league bout. On Thursday night, the Wildcats took care of business against Eastern Washington in Cheney in a 76-69 victory. The win was the third in as many conference outings and ran WSU's overall win streak to five in a row.
As for the Vikings, a team which is a perfect 5-0 at home so far in 2011-12, they too were in action two nights ago and managed to work their way into the win column with a commanding 82-62 victory over Northern Arizona. The win snapped a four-game slide by PSU and was just the second triumph in the last eight games for a team that began the campaign 5-2.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Wildcats own a 27-11 advantage, although PSU has gone 10-8 at home over the years. The teams split their two matchups last season.
Damian Lillard scored a game-high 30 points as he guided Weber State to a seven-point win over the Eastern Washington Eagles in Big Sky Conference play at Reese Court two nights ago. Lillard, who has now scored at least 30 points four times this season and has led the team in scoring in all but two games, made good on 7-of-17 shots from the floor and all but one of his 13 free-throw chances. Scott Bamforth accounted for 19 points and Kyle Tresnak 13 and seven rebounds for the visitors. The Wildcats, who outscored the hosts at the charity stripe by a 23-12 margin, picked up the victory despite turning the ball over 22 times. The nation's leading scorer with 25.5 ppg, Lillard has been doing it all for the Wildcats from shooting 46.1 percent from three-point range and 90.4 percent at the free-throw line, to clearing almost six rebounds per game and handing out a team-best 49 assists. Bamforth, the only other player to have led the Wildcats in scoring this season, accounts for another 15.2 ppg which means between the two they are generating more than half the unit's 79.5 ppg.
Portland State turned the ball over 20 times against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Thursday night, but that mattered little as the hosts shot a staggering 62.0 percent from the field, including 69.6 percent in the second half, as the Vikings captured the easy 20-point victory. Except for Nate Lozeau, who missed all three of his field goal attempts and was held scoreless, every starter for PSU scored in double figures, beginning with Charles Odum with 18 points, to go along with five assists. Chehales Tapscott posted 13 points and eight rebounds, followed by Lateef McMullan and Michael Harthun with 12 points apiece in the dominating effort. Odum has been the leading scorer in each of the last four games and as such he is also pacing the team overall in 2011-12 with his 17.7 ppg, although his mere 24.5 percent shooting from three-point range could stand some attention at practice. Tapscott (13.5 ppg) checks in with 9.1 rpg which has helped boost the Vikings on the glass and give the team a rebounding advantage over more than four per game entering the weekend.
With Lillard on their side, not to mention Bamforth, the Wildcats are going to be a tough to beat this season and even though PSU has yet to lose at home, there is good reason to think that first defeat could take place tonight.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/07/3357457/weber-state-11-3-at-portland-state.html#storylink=cpy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
GAME NOTES: Appearing as one of the teams to beat in the Big Sky Conference this season, the Weber State Wildcats take their perfect 3-0 league mark on the road tonight to challenge the Portland State Vikings at the Stott Center.
Weber State, the only team in the conference with double-digit wins overall entering the weekend, joins Montana as the only team in the Big Sky yet to lose a league bout. On Thursday night, the Wildcats took care of business against Eastern Washington in Cheney in a 76-69 victory. The win was the third in as many conference outings and ran WSU's overall win streak to five in a row.
As for the Vikings, a team which is a perfect 5-0 at home so far in 2011-12, they too were in action two nights ago and managed to work their way into the win column with a commanding 82-62 victory over Northern Arizona. The win snapped a four-game slide by PSU and was just the second triumph in the last eight games for a team that began the campaign 5-2.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Wildcats own a 27-11 advantage, although PSU has gone 10-8 at home over the years. The teams split their two matchups last season.
Damian Lillard scored a game-high 30 points as he guided Weber State to a seven-point win over the Eastern Washington Eagles in Big Sky Conference play at Reese Court two nights ago. Lillard, who has now scored at least 30 points four times this season and has led the team in scoring in all but two games, made good on 7-of-17 shots from the floor and all but one of his 13 free-throw chances. Scott Bamforth accounted for 19 points and Kyle Tresnak 13 and seven rebounds for the visitors. The Wildcats, who outscored the hosts at the charity stripe by a 23-12 margin, picked up the victory despite turning the ball over 22 times. The nation's leading scorer with 25.5 ppg, Lillard has been doing it all for the Wildcats from shooting 46.1 percent from three-point range and 90.4 percent at the free-throw line, to clearing almost six rebounds per game and handing out a team-best 49 assists. Bamforth, the only other player to have led the Wildcats in scoring this season, accounts for another 15.2 ppg which means between the two they are generating more than half the unit's 79.5 ppg.
Portland State turned the ball over 20 times against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Thursday night, but that mattered little as the hosts shot a staggering 62.0 percent from the field, including 69.6 percent in the second half, as the Vikings captured the easy 20-point victory. Except for Nate Lozeau, who missed all three of his field goal attempts and was held scoreless, every starter for PSU scored in double figures, beginning with Charles Odum with 18 points, to go along with five assists. Chehales Tapscott posted 13 points and eight rebounds, followed by Lateef McMullan and Michael Harthun with 12 points apiece in the dominating effort. Odum has been the leading scorer in each of the last four games and as such he is also pacing the team overall in 2011-12 with his 17.7 ppg, although his mere 24.5 percent shooting from three-point range could stand some attention at practice. Tapscott (13.5 ppg) checks in with 9.1 rpg which has helped boost the Vikings on the glass and give the team a rebounding advantage over more than four per game entering the weekend.
With Lillard on their side, not to mention Bamforth, the Wildcats are going to be a tough to beat this season and even though PSU has yet to lose at home, there is good reason to think that first defeat could take place tonight.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/07/3357457/weber-state-11-3-at-portland-state.html#storylink=cpy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;