This game had disaster written on it from the beginning. Jeremiah Dominguez was out in street clothes, and it looks like he may be out for academic reasons which would likely be a season ending suspension. The pay seats were almost empty. Those in charge of marketing at the athletic department have a lot of work to do to make the Stott Center an intimidating place to play. On the bright side, both Andre Murray and Justynn Hammond were in action tonight, and the Vikings would need both their contributions to pull off a victory.

First Half
Play began dreadfully for the Vikings. Their game plan was to feed Scott Morrison in the post to take advantage of the size discrepancy. Much to the chagrin of Tyler Geving, Morrison turned the ball over the first two touches he got. Then he was yanked and he sat and sat and sat. The Viks played over ten minutes without Morrison on the floor, and his replacement was the offensively-limited Julius Thomas. How you can bench your biggest mismatch in the game for ten minutes over two turnovers is incomprehensible. The Viks struggled offensively without Dominguez and Morrison, and they sputtered along for most of the half save for the efforts of Deonte Huff and Andre Murray. Then, to the surprise of most fans present, the Vikings found a serviceable backup at small forward. Out was Kyle Coston who has struggled all year, and in was Justynn Hammond. He provided great energy off the bench and hit two big 3 pointers. He looked a little uncomfortable on defense, and looked lost without the ball, but was magical with it in his hands. Then, another screwed up coaching move occurred. Alex Tiefenthaler was subbed out after a long stretch at the four and Tyrell Mara came in. After Mara didn’t rush the shooter on a made 3 ball, Geving pulled him out and put back in the exhausted looking Tiefenthaler. Ken Bone finally put a leash on his power hungry assistant and chewed him out. The entire half was dominated by great shooting by the Mustangs. They seemed to make every outside shot they took, led by Trae Clark. Dupree Lucas looked in control for the Vikings all half, and played well while at the same time providing much-needed leadership. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble, drawing three in the first half. The Viks were able to cut the lead to one point at the end of the half due to strong play by Murray, Polis, Huff, and Morrison.

Halftime 37-36 Cal Poly

Second Half
The Viks came out with a completely different energy level in the second half. They finally got the crowd into the game by throwing down some dunks, and hitting some big outside shots. Though he turned the ball over a few times on bad passes, Polis played a very solid game in place of Dominguez. He was able to make most of the shots he took, and did not have the ball stolen on the dribble. Charles Anderson led the Mustangs offensively, and without his effort, they would have been blown out of the building. Their leading scorer, Lorenzo Keeler, did absolutely nothing all night, hurting their chances. Down the stretch, they were unable to hit outside shots, and big outside shots by Lucas and Tiefenthaler sealed the deal.

Final Score: PSU 74-66

Everybody is healthy now, but the Vikings’ success will center around whether or not Dominguez plays the rest of the way. If not, Polis will have to run the show, and work on making better passes. Hopefully Justynn Hammond will be the long term solution to the problems of the bench. The result is unsatisfactory after the whooping the Mustangs received from NAU, but the win is the most important thing at this juncture.

Good news! Sounds like next week’s game against Cal-Poly will be played back at the Stott. Vikings are 20-18 overall against the Pioneers. Hopefully, they will never be close to .500 again in this match-up.
Starting Lineups:
PSU: Morrison JR Moore, Mara, Huff, Murray, Dominguez
L&C: Joey Toboni, Gene Rivera, David Berggren, Josh Kollasch, Thomas Tillery
Morrison will sit this one out due to a lingering back problem. It sounds like he’ll be back for the Washington State game, and that there’s still a chance we’ll see Tiefenthaler and Hammond. According to Coach Bone, this is probably the last time he’ll get a chance for two days off in a row. Murray gets the start over Lucas. Hopefully this leads to the bench energy I mentioned in the preview.

First Half
JR Moore started off the game by drawing a foul on Kollasch and hitting a pair of free throws. Tillery got by Dominguez early to draw a foul. Huff missed two early three balls, making him 5-23 on the year. Luckily for the Vikings, the Pioneers also started shooting very cold, missing their first 7. First Timeout: 5-0 Vikings After the break, the Pioneers subbed their entire lineup. They put in Waagmeester, Papenfuss, Robinowitz, Thierry, Allen. Papenfuss scored the first two for the Pioneers inside, and after a Mara 3 for the Viks, Robinowitz answered. Just as I had guessed, 7 minutes into the game Dominguez got collared with his second foul. Off the inbound, Papenfuss muscled inside again for another L & C basket. After the Pioneers had closed to one, the Vikings pulled off a run of their own. Second Timeout: 14-7 Vikings Andre Murray started the game 4-5 after hitting back-to-back jumpers. The Pioneers ran an offense which played their point guard Tillery posting up, and though he had a height advantage, it didn’t work well early. Ahead of a Berggren jumper that made it 18-9, Dupree Lucas missed another jumper causing a quick sub. Even in this game, things aren’t looking up for him. Hopefully he’ll soon find a way out of the funk he’s in now. Third Timeout 20-11 Vikings The decidedly pro-Pioneer crowd was unhappy with the referees multiple times in the first half, and for a good reason. Instead of allowing the game to come to him, Lucas continued to force offense (0-5), and with poor results. To start the game, he and Huff shot a combined 1-10. The Pioneers were losing big early, but not because of the skill difference. Instead, it was a result of many turnovers, and taking bad shots. The only reason it was as close as it was was 2-15 3 point shooting by the Vikings. Late in the half, the Pioneers went on a run. Berggren hit a three ball, Papenfuss put in another inside bucket, and Berggren converted an inside shot. Fourth Timeout 26-18 Vikings Unfortunately for the Pioneers, Berggren is a 33% free throw shooter.

Halftime 32-20 Vikings
The Pioneers kept this one close by playing good defense against a talented Viking team. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep up with Andre Murray, who had 12 first half points. The Vikings should be happy the spread was as large as it was with one of their starters out with an injury, and two others went 2-12 from the field.
L & C: 29% first half shooting

Second Half
Murray starts the second half with a strong board to get him 1 away from his first double-double at PSU. For some reason, he was yanked right away in favor of Lucas. Tillery then drove the ball down the lane and met his high school teammate JR Moore who drew a charge. Lucas finally hit his first field goal, but promptly missed another. First Timeout 36-21 Vikings The next segment of the game was characterized by terrible shooting and 4 fouls on Nick Thierry. Deonte Huff continued his great free throw shooting, and Papenfuss cut the lead to 13 with 2 more inside buckets. Second Timeout 42-29 Vikings Papenfuss continued his strong play, and the Pioneers slowly continued their assault on the lead. Third Timeout 48-36 Vikings At 50-39, the Pioneers had a chance to cut the lead to single digits, but they threw away their first chance. However, on their second opportunity, Mark Robinowitz hit a 3 ball to cut the lead to 8. The Pioneers made 3 out of their first 5 from the outside in the second half. JR Moore answered with a layup, but Papenfuss came right back with one of his own. Moore did okay, but appeared overworked due to his limited practice time. Andre Murray came down with an ankle injury with around 4 minutes to go. After the injury, 56% free throw shooter Gene Rivera hit two big ones to cut the lead to 6 before Papenfuss drew his fourth foul. It didn’t cost them, as 86% free throw shooter Tyrell Mara clanked both of them. Huff got an offensive board and put it back in, but fouled out right afterwards. Brian Curtis came in for Huff seeing rare late minutes. Ditto for Julius Thomas who played well inside, albeit against lesser foes. Final Timeout 56-48 Vikings JT hit another big layup coming off the timeout to run his tally to 9, but Tillery came back down for the Pioneers, converting an and-one which cut the lead back down to 7. He then hit a pair of throws to cut the lead to 5. If the run had started earlier, they probably could have won the game. Rivera also played well cutting the lead to 3 with 30 seconds to go. The Pioneers put Brian Curtis on the line, who converted 1 of 2 with 23 seconds left. Tillery converted another and-one to cut the lead to one with 15 seconds left. The Pioneers stole the ball from JD, and had a good look to win the game. Fortunately for the Viks, they couldn’t convert.
Final 61-60 Vikings

David Berggren who’s averaged in double figures the last two years, is only averaging 8 this year, and had a tough game tonight. On the bright side, Tyson Papenfuss was very good, scoring in double digits for the Pioneers. Robinowitz also scored 10 in the second half. I’m not sure this game would have been close if Morrison had played, but the team was clearly fundamentally sound. Thomas Tillery really turned it on late, scoring 8 points in the last 4 minutes.

For the Vikings, Andre Murray was very good. He had 14 in the contest, and also rebounded well. Dupree Lucas continued his horrendous senior season shooting 1 for 11. The Vikings shot only 6-12 from the charity stripe, and their best shooter fouled out with 4 minutes to go. Julius Thomas played great late minutes, contributing 11 points. None of the starters outside of Murray really played a good game. Outside of the terrible shooting from their stars, Dominguez and Mara could not duplicate their early season form.

Realistically, this result is unacceptable. The game should never have been that close. In the Stott Center, with Morrison, this game wouldn’t have been close. Dupree Lucas needs to contribute for the Vikings to win. Losing Murray late made this game very dangerous.

First Half
Polis got the start because Jeremiah Dominguez committed a rules infraction on the last road trip. Kramer Knutson got the start for the Pilots at center because he is a bit bigger than Sikma. Raivio at point because Ito is out. Mickey Polis started the scoring with a 3 ball, then Raivio answered. Huff has looked tired, and he was pulled 3 1/2 minutes in after throwing a bad pass and committing a foul. Mara and Sikma each hit 3 balls too going into the first timeout. First Timeout: 8-8 Mara was really tough out of the gate, going to the floor twice. Andre Murray finally hit a jump shot giving the Viks a lead. Scott Morrison then fouled Nik Raivio on his way to the rim, causing him to bleed badly from the chin. Walter Thompson, who burned the Viks last year, came in for Raivio. Robin Smeulders (the Pilots leading scorer) came in for Knutson, but nobody has been successful against Morrison inside so far. No matter the situation, Dominguez has been shooting great hitting another outside shot. Going into the second timeout, the Viks’ attack has been very balanced, but they’d like to see Huff and Lucas hit their shots. Second Timeout: 17-13 Vikings Walter Thompson started quick for the North-siders with 7 points in the first ten minutes after missing two free throws. Sikma and Raivio kept the pace at 7 going in to the third timeout, while Morrison and Dominguez had 6 for the Vikings. Third Timeout: 24-24 Lucas finally hit his first shot with 7 minutes left in the half. Though Kyle Coston was questionable going in, he played well in the first half, shooting the ball well. Unfortunately for the Viks, 3 of their starters (Morrison, Mara, Huff) got in foul trouble in the first half. Though many Viking fans (myself included) have been critical of Polis, his shooting cannot be argued with. Though he didn’t go up against Morrison in the first half, Sikma was dominant on the boards gathering 9 in the first half. Off the bench, Julius Thomas was good on the boards too, but couldn’t hit his put back attempt. Fourth Timeout: 33-32 Pilots Deonte Huff couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn from the field, but he hit on his first four free throw attempts. Even though the bench was finally semi-effective, Bone went with Mara and Huff to end the half with Mara hitting a late 3 ball. Lucas had 5 assists in the first half, but just 2 points. The Vikings have to be happy that they held Smeulders to just 1 point, but upset at the rebound deficit (19-15).
Halftime: 37-35 Vikings
Second Half
Hannibal started the second half in place of Knutson for the Pilots. Huff started the second half with his first field goal, and added a free throw for the and-1. Mara added another three ball to extend the Viking lead to 8. Sikma got his third foul after picking up his tenth rebound. He came out, and the Vikings took advantage. They were able to get back to back inside buckets and extend their lead to nine going into the first media timeout. However, Huff picked up his third foul going into that timeout. First Timeout: 47-38 Vikings After two free throws for the Pilots, Mara made his fourth 3 ball, and that made him 4-4. Watson then hit back to back jumpers to give him 18 points which lead the Pilots at the time. Murray hit for his third field goal going into the timeout. Second Timeout: 54-48 Vikings With 10 minutes left, Sikma got his double-double at 10 points and 10 boards. Julius Thomas finally got his first bucket on an alley-oop lay-up with 8 minutes left. Huff drew his fourth foul, though forcing the Viks to go big. Ahead of the timeout, Walter Thompson got into double figures for the Pilots with 10.Third Timeout: 60-55 Vikings Tyrell Mara hit another big 3 to put the Viks back up 8 after two missed free throws by Morrison. Raivio came back the other way and answered. After Morrison hit a lay-up, Raivio hit another 3 to cut the lead to 4. However, Dominguez came back with one of his own to answer. The teams traded baskets for the next couple of minutes. There was no final media timeout until there were 36 seconds left due to 2 team timeouts, and some mistakes by the referees.Final Media Timeout: 74-69 Vikings Morrison hit 1 of 2 with 46 seconds. Huff added two more to make it 75-69. Watson hit a jumper in the lane for the Pilots with 27 seconds left. Huff redeemed some terrible games earlier in the season hitting 9-9 from the line.

This was a big one for the Viks, and their first ever victory at the Chiles Center. They did a great job shutting down Smeulders, allowing him only 3 points. Though they did allow big games by Watson, (20) Raivio, (20) and Sikma, (12 Pts, 14 Boards) they shut down the one player who could really beat them on his own. Clutch free-throws by D-Huff down the stretch wrapped this one up. Tyrell Mara was the player of the game for the Vikings hitting 5-6 from downtown, and leading the team with 7 tough rebounds.

Final: 78-73 Vikings

First Half
The first half went as expected. Morrison dominated the much smaller center for the other team, and the Viks looked exhausted from the weekend’s games. However, as the half progressed, things started clicking, and the lead ballooned to 21 at half time. The team still seemed to lack direction without the starters on the floor, but the athletic superiority didn’t allow this to be much of a factor. Polis appeared much more in his element against this D-III team. Though it was a bad team, their point guard (Tesoro) was pretty good, so maybe this is a sign of things to come. Deonte Huff threw down a couple really big dunks, and Dupree Lucas even threw down a reverse jam when he cherry picked after tripping.

Half-Time Score 47-26

Second Half
This was a scary half for Linfield. PSU beat them by 43 with PSU’s starters in for maybe only 10 minutes apiece. Huff scored quite a few points, including more break-away dunks, and everybody was almost on stride, but Huff’s effort really stood out. The reserves all did fairly well, and Kyle Coston looked a little more comfortable, especially handling the ball.

Though this wasn’t really much of a gauge for Big Sky play, it did help to get all the players a chance to see extended time.

First Half
PSU again started quickly. They hit 3s all around, with Lucas hitting 3 of them himself. Scott Morrison had 6 points, and a couple blocks, and Dominguez and Lucas played very well on the offensive side of the ball. However, almost all the starters got into foul trouble, so the Viks didn’t have a chance to extend the leads that they had. Akron committed lots of fouls themselves, so the second half should be dictated by the availability of those players in some way. Close to the end of the half, the Viks went on an 8-0 run, but were unable to maintain the lead going into the half. The Viks were 8-12 from 3 in the first half, and shot 57% overall.

Halftime Score: 36-36

Second Half
Jeremiah Dominguez started the second half with eight straight points for the Vikings. After the first media timeout, the game became stagnant. During the next four minutes, each team could only muster one bucket, leaving Akron up by 1. The teams went back and forth continuously for most of the half after that. The Vikings reserves continued to be fairly ineffective, and their inability to score and control the ball again impaired their ability to pull away, even though their starters were clearly playing better. Ahead of the next break Lucas threw an alley-oop, which Huff tipped in to put PSU ahead. By this point, PSU had cooled off considerably from the outside, and was having trouble rebounding the ball. Dominguez kept PSU in the game, scoring his 18th point with 3 minutes left in the contest. Lucas started hitting some inside shots in the last few minutes, Akron answered, but Huff stole the ball their next time down and took it back for an emphatic dunk. Dominguez was unable to convert the front end of a 1-and-1 down the stretch, leaving the door open for the Kangaroos, however, they were unable to hit a decent three point look their next time down. Julius Thomas duplicated Dominguez’ effort, but the Zips couldn’t get off a desperation shot.

Final Score: PSU Wins 66-63

Well, I got the three point spread right…

First Half
The first half began in a great manner for the Viks. IUPUI turned it over a bunch of times, and PSU got off to a 10-0 lead. It was all downhill from there. The Viks started turning it over, and couldn’t get many rebounds. The shooting was satisfactory, but the Viks weren’t able to play good defense. When it couldn’t get any worse, Austin Montgomery hit a buzzer beater to put the Jaguars up 34 to 25 at the half.
Halftime–34-25 Jaguars

Second Half
The Vikings hit two 3s to start the second half to cut into the lead. The rest of the half was back and forth with the teams both playing good offense and the power forwards dominating. Jon Avery and Tyrell Mara hit almost every shot they took. The rest of the players weren’t too shabby either with the regular contributors eventually hitting a few. Patterson was hitting every three he took, but the starters for the Vikings just kept answering the call. In the last two minutes, JD was dynamite. He hit some big shots, including the reverse lay-up to put the Viks up by two. Then, they stole the inbounds pass, and with a slight delay, ran out the clock. This was obviously the most suspenseful game of this short year, and may even have been more exciting than the tournament win over MSU last year.
Final–75-73 Vikings

Wow! What a rush! I listened to the game on the IUPUI radio network and chatted with Marty about the game on PSUFF. Though the spread was 9 at half time, it could have been a lot worse. The Viks were completely out-manned. However, the Jaguar starters played all but about 2 minutes of game time in the second half, and they paid for the fatigue with the L. The player of the game has to be Dominguez. Mara was essential to the second half comeback, and to keeping it close in the first, however, Dominguez kept the team cool and collected down the stretch, and hit the winning bucket at the end.

The University of Northern Colorado broke several nasty streaks this week in notching their first ever Big Sky Conference win with a 16-13 victory over #19 Montana State at Nottingham Field in Greeley, CO. The Bears were on a 16 game loosing streak (the longest in school history) and an 8 game home loosing streak (the longest at Nottingham). This is the first home victory for second year head coach Scott Downing. With the win the Bears improve to 10-13-1 all time against MSU and 6-5 in Greeley. The game also marked the first successful field goal attempts of the season, with RS-Freshman kicker Zak Bigelow connecting on all three attempts from 25, 40, and 37 yards. The win did not come easily, as the Bears who lead for most of the second half, gave up a game tying touchdown with only 48 seconds remaining. However a 51 yard kickoff return by Cory Fauver followed by a 26 yard completion from Dominic Breazeale, to Ryan Chesla set up the final field goal with 8 seconds left on the clock.