Men's Basketball Drops Physical Contest To Portland State :: Bears Lose 88-79 To League-Leading Vikings

Feb. 20, 2008

GREEELY, Colo. - The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team fought back to outscore league-leading Portland State 48-44 in the second half, but it was not enough as the Bears fell 88-79 at Butler-Hancock Wednesday evening. With the loss, the Bears move to 11-15 on the year and 4-9 in Big Sky Conference action, while Portland State improves to 18-8 overall and 11-2 in league play.

Junior forward Jabril Banks led the team with 16 points, while senior guard Sean Taibi scored 15, sophomore forward Jefferson Mason tallied a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and sophomore Will Figures added 12 points. Mason and freshman forward Neal Kingman also led the team with four assists each.

Portland State was led by a trio of players with 19 points each in Kyle Coston, Scott Morrison and Deonte Huff, while Andre Murray added 11. Jeremiah Dominguez had a game-high seven assists, while Morrison tallied three blocked shots in the game.

"We weren't ready to play from the get-go defensively," said NC Head Coach Tad Boyle. "I'm really proud of the way we played in the second half though. We played well enough to win. When you score 79 points in your own building it should be enough to win."

Portland State scored the first six points of the game and hit its first four three-pointers of the game to lead 12-4, and never trailed the rest of the contest. The contest was very physical as 45 fouls were called, 30 by Northern Colorado and 15 by Portland State and a player on each team was assessed a technical foul in Morrison and NC's Robert Palacios.

The Bears out-rebounded the Vikings 41-36 and shot .426 from the field, .368 from the three-point line and .778 (14-18) from the free throw line. Portland State shot .436 from the floor, .632 from beyond the arc and .718 (28-39) from the charity stripe.

"This was a very physical game," continued Boyle. "I am very proud of our second half effort. We have two words on our wall in the locker room, toughness and pride. That's what we will continue to play for the rest of the season."

Northern Colorado closes out the home portion of its schedule on Saturday when the Bears host the Eastern Washington Eagles at 7:05 p.m. Prior to the start of the game the four seniors on the roster will be honored for their accomplishments.