Portland falls to 0-5 away from home on the season

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland State Vikings defeated the Portland Pilots 69-53 on Monday night at the Stott Center. The Vikings (4-2) won their third straight game, while the Pilots (2-5) fall to 0-5 in road and neutral site games.

Sophomore forward Jamie Jones recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Pilots. Sophomore guard Walter Thompson scored a team-high 16 points.

PSU senior forward Juma Kamara led all scorers with 17 points, while junior center Scott Morrison and junior guard Deonte Huff added 15 and 10, respectively for the Vikings.

A lackluster offensive performance again hampered the Pilots on Monday. Portland entered the game shooting 39 percent from the field and struggled to 36 percent shooting for the game. Portland also made just 5 of 20 three-point attempts.

PSU, meanwhile, shot 43 percent from the field and made 7 of 25 three-pointers. The Vikings gained a 10-point edge from the foul line, making 16 of 25 attempts to Portland’s 6-for-9.

“I thought we defended well in the first half,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “It puts so much pressure on your defense if you can’t score though. Again, we let missed shots affect other parts of our game tonight and we have got to learn to play through those stretches.”

Leading 9-7 early, Portland went scoreless over a 7:18 stretch and the Vikings gained an eight point first-half lead at 22-14 with 7:16 remaining in the half. Portland was able whittle the deficit to 31-27 at the break.

The offense again sputtered early in the second half as PSU used a 12-2 run to gain a 51-35 lead with 10:08 remaining. Portland would get no closer than 11 points down the stretch.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Pilots as they will travel to Pullman, Wash. on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against the undefeated Washington State Cougars (6-0). Portland returns home to host UC Santa Barbara (4-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m.