UCLA started the game with a big lineup-Love, Aboya, Mbah A Moute, Shipp, and Westbrook. Love was completely dominant on the offensive side of the ball, and certainly the best player on the court during the first half-he even hit a 3 pointer. Shipp was the next best player on the court, he was able to hit a few outside shots and shut out Lucas. Collison was out with an injury, but it didn’t seem to matter. The Bruins ran a double team at Morrison every time he had the ball, and it worked.

PSU was completely ineffective on the offensive side. Lucas seemed lost, and got into foul trouble, and Morrison turned over the ball multiple times. The Viks couldn’t score or rebound. Huff had six at half time, and Dominguez was very good defensively. Off the bench, Coston hit a three ball, and Julius Thomas was tough on the boards. Andre Murray couldn’t score, in fact, the guards couldn’t really score at all outside a steal and lay-up by Dominguez.

Halftime Score: 36-17 UCLA

The Viks started the second half quickly, cutting the lead to 13, but Shipp put the dagger in by hitting back to back 3 balls.

The remainder of the second half went back and forth, with neither team making much progress.

The Viks won the power forward battle, even though Mara was overmatched physically. PSU also won the point guard and small forward battle, but the SF battle was by a small margin. Unfortunately, Dupree Lucas didn’t score a single point, and Scott Morrison was completely dominated by Kevin Love. Josh Shipp was also great on the offensive end.

Final score 69-48

The real concern for the Vikings going forward is Mickey Polis. He’s not a formidable option at point guard. Even against WOU he couldn’t keep control of the ball. Dominguez can’t play the full 40 every time out.

PSU should do better on the offensive end against a more level playing field. The Bruins showed their superior athleticism, and skill at times, but the toughness and quickness of some of the Vikings created success at times. Going forward, the Vikings should be competitive in all of their games the rest of the way with the exception of maybe the Washington State game. The Cougars play a physical game as well, but with lower calibre athletes than the Baby Bears.

The Vikings should be in the running for the crown at the Top of the World Classic next weekend in Fairbanks, AK, and at this point seem to be one of the favorites with Colorado State’s huge loss to the Griz earlier this evening.

Final Score: 93-58

PSU was disgustingly better at every position except center. That said, when Morrison forced his offense, he was effective. I think he maybe had seven points, and even blocked the 7′3″ center’s shot a couple times.

Tyrell Mara dominated his position defensively. He didn’t score, but his presence was clearly felt. He’ll probably end up on the other teams’ top scorers all year, unless they are centers.

Deonte Huff and Dupree Lucas were their regular exciting selves. Lucas probably had around 20 points, and was able to hit almost every shot he took. Huff wasn’t hitting outside shots, and he missed a few highlight-reel dunks, but he made a few steals, collected a few boards and threw down one good dunk.

Dominguez was the key to the Viking offense. When he was in, everything moved very smoothly, and he created shots for everyone on the floor. However, he was in foul trouble all game, and when he was off the floor the offense was stagnant. If he can’t stay on the court during the conference season, the Viks go from legit contenders for the NCAA bid to competing for a bid to the conference tournament.

Julius Thomas backed up Morrison at center. He filled in with tenacity on defense and on the boards, and was able to cover a couple seven footers reasonably well. His shooting didn’t look great, but he won’t need to score much to help the team. This likely won’t be his role during the regular season when J.R. Moore is available.

Kyle Coston backed up Mara at the 4. As expected, he looked physically overmatched against heavier players, and was ineffective most of the game. He knocked down a few jumpers late.

There was a rotation of players which included Huff, Lucas, and Coston at the 3.

Andre Murray backed up Lucas. He had a great shooting touch and passed the ball well too. However he drew Coach Bone’s criticism for unwise decision making at times. He should receive playing time all year, and is ready to score off the bench like PSU needs.

Mickey Polis backed up Dominguez. He gave great effort, made a few long jumpers, and looked pretty good on defense. However, his ball-handling and distribution were consistently lacking, and that doesn’t bode well if Dominguez is off the floor.

Brian Curtis also saw some time and passed the ball well. He probably won’t see any time in meaningful games, as he is the 5th guard in the rotation.

Alex Tiefenthaler and Justynn Hammond aren’t eligible until January.
J.R. Moore didn’t see action because of a minor knee injury.

There are plenty of reasons to believe this team can compete for the NCAA bid in March. However, it’s going to depend on the seniors, and Dominguez’s presence on the court. With 3 players who are among the best in the Big Sky at their position, there is no reason to believe this team shouldn’t be there at crunch time.

NAU 44-43 PORTST
NCOL 14-26 IDST
CSUS 7-26 WEBER
EWU 23-24 UMT
SUU 3-7 MTST

Best Performance: (#1) Montana 24, Eastern Washington 23 - Griz eke out a hard-fought victory despite being outgained by 276 yards.

Worst Performance: Northern Colorado 14, Idaho State 26 - The Bears are now 0-4 against the Bengals since moving up in 2003.

Most Surprising Result: Northern Arizona 44, Portland State 43 - The ‘Jacks rebound from a bad loss partially thanks to two botched 2PC attempts by the Vikings in the 4th. quarter.

Posted on ChampionshipSubdivision.com by Mvemjsunpx

Week 5 Scores
PORTST 28-21 EWU
NAU 9-38 CSUS
WEBER 10-18 UMT
IDST 20-40 MTST
NCOL 21-56 CPOLY

Best Performance: Sacramento St. 38, Northern Arizona 9 - The Hornets inexplicably dominate NAU.

Worst Performance: Northern Arizona 9, Sacramento St. 38 - Neither the Lumberjacks’ vaunted offense, nor their “vaunted” defense show up in Sacramento.

Most Surprising Result: Sacramento St. 38, Northern Arizona 9 - When was the last time the Hornets blew out any BSC team?

Posted on ChampionshipSubdivision.com by Mvemjsunpx

First up, let’s do a quick rundown of scores from last week in the Big Sky:

Thursday, 8/30

#24 (FBS) Boise State 56, Weber State 0

- This one wasn’t even close. The Broncs were up 28-0 at the end of one, and 49-0 by half. It actually could have been worse had not Boise pulled its’ starters towards the end of the half. One positive for the Wildcats - they tied BSU’s backups, 7-7 in the second half.

Northern Arizona 47, Western New Mexico 0

- Alex Watson got his potential Walter Payton season off to a good start, catching 8 passes for 133 yards and 2 scores. Junior Lance Kriesen, replacing All-American Jason Murrieta, looked fine in his first start, going 16-26 for 188 yards and 2 TDs. The Jacks did have to settle for 4 FGs, however, and NAU did fumble the ball 4 times.

Friday, 8/31

Eastern Washington 52, Montana Western 13

- The Eagles struggled a little early on, but sophomore QB Matt Nichols would equal a school record 6 TD passes as EWU cruised past NAIA foe Montana Western. Dale Morris would add148 yards on the ground, and 2 receivers would catch a pair of TD passes.

Saturday, 9/1

#10 McNeese State 35, #13 Portland State 12

- Not a good start for the Glanville era. PSU was able to move the ball into the red zone 3 times in the first 20 minutes of the game, but came away with just 6 points. MSU would can 395 yards of total offense, with 204 of those on the ground.

#2 Montana 37, Southern Utah 17

- Lex Hilliard would look a little rusty, but would have a solid performance in his first return since injuring his achilles tendon a year ago. He would finish with 108 yards on 22 carries with one score. The Thunderbirds would hang around, keeping it within one score until partway through the third. But the Griz would put it away late in the 4th with a TD pass to Eric Allen.

#25 (FBS) Texas A&M 38, #21 Montana State

- The Bobcats would have no trouble moving the ball against their ranked FBS foe, even outgaining them in totals yards; 403 to 390. But the Cats were unable to score when in Aggie territory, moving the ball inside the 30 7 times and coming away with 1 TD, 1 fumble, 1 INT, and three missed FGs. Jack Rolovich would finish 21-39 for 267 yards and 1 score. The Cats were down just 17-7 at half, but the Aggies would pull away late in the third.

#23 (FBS) Hawaii 63, Northern Colorado 6

- In what many predicted would be the worst loss by a BSC team in week one, Hawaii QB Colt Brennan looked like Payton Manning against Butte High, completing 34 passes of his 40 attempts for 416 yards and 6 TDs in the first half alone.

News:

Portland State loses starting QB and FB for the season. Starting QB Tygue Howland will have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left foot, and starting FB Bobby McLintock tore his right ACL. Brian White should step in for Howland, and Olaniyi Sobomehin will get the nod at FB.