Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- Nik Raivio led four University of Portland players in double figures with 19 points, but the Portland State Vikings rallied behind senior point guard Jeremiah Dominguez for an 81-76 win Tuesday night at the Stott Center. The Pilots shot 53 percent from the field, but committed 17 costly turnovers that led to 19 Vikings points.
The Vikings (2-0) extend their home winning streak to 11 games with the victory, while the Pilots (1-1) even their record after a season-opening victory over the University of Washington.
Junior Robin Smeulders, the West Coast Conference Player of the Week, added 16 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Jared Stohl and junior Ethan Niedermeyer added 16 and 12, respectively.
Dominguez, the reining Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, led all scorers with 23 points, including 19 in the second half. He also added a game-high five steals.
Portland dominated the boards in the first half by a 21-5 margin en route to a 38-35 halftime lead. Stohl drilled three three-pointers to spark the Pilots early. The second half was a different story.
“We did a great job of rebounding in the first half,” Portland coach Eric Reveno said, “but we did an awful job of rebounding in the second half, and I think that was the difference in the game.”
But the story was Dominguez in the second period as he came out firing on all cylinders. A transfer who played two years at Portland before heading across town, Dominguez energized the home crowd with an array of step-back three-pointers and runners in the lane. He caused havoc on defense with steals and led a 17-4 run that turned a seven point deficit into a 56-50 lead with 11:50 remaining.
Stohl cut the margin in half with a trey out of a timeout and the Pilots would regain the lead with 6:28 remaining on a Kramer Knutson free throw. It would be the last lead of the night for Portland as Dominguez got help from his teammates as Paul Guede made four straight free throws and Kyle Coston hit a clutch jumper. Dominguez pushed the lead to eight with a free throw and 2:53 on the clock.
Smeulders hit a layup to make it 81-76 with 1:20 remaining and the Pilots forced a steal, but could not convert in the half court set in the final minute.
“We didn’t have a ton of turnovers, but they always seemed to be costly,” Reveno said. “They were always going the other way and getting offense out of our mistakes.”
Portland’s offense continued to impress as they followed an 80-point outing against UW by shooting 53 percent from the floor on Tuesday. PSU countered with 51 percent shooting. The Vikings were much better on the glass in the second half, cutting the rebounding margin to 32-25 for the game.
“Portland State is a good, veteran, championship basketball team,” Reveno said of the defending Big Sky Conference champs. “We want to get to that level and this was a good learning experience for us as a team.”
The Pilots will look to bounce back into the win column when they host the Yale Bulldogs on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Chiles Center.
