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January 20, 2013 1:38 pm ET by Kenny Ocker

Game #9-300: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Portland State Vikings

January 12, 2013 10:35 pm
Rose Garden
BBState Stats/Recap
Photo - Portland State athletics

The frigid bike ride to Portland State's gym made me nostalgic. Not for my recently concluded college career - oh no, Not as a player...are you kidding?! But for high school basketball in my hometown.

Because although my hometown is just 6,000 people strong, our gym seats more people than Portland State's Stott Center (the seat count is 1,700 to 1,500, if memory serves.) And I've certainly seen more people packed into my gym than the 800 or so who showed up to see Northern Arizona come to the Rose City. Despite showing up with 15 or 20 minutes until tip, I was able to secure a seat in the first row behind the media table and had the section all to myself.

The primer-white walls, volleyball lines, drop ceiling with half a dozen extra baskets mounted in it just ooze bush-league. The Big Sky basketball that followed didn't do much to help further that impression.

After going back and forth throughout most of the first half, Gary Winston launched a pro-range #superhoop and the Vikings took a 33-32 lead, and would never trail again. That was that.

Despite trying to blow the game late and having to win on the free-throw line, Portland State maintained some modicum of control on the game, chiefly thanks to a double-double from Renado Parker and a collective 8-of-13 performance from behind-the-arc.

But I wasn't really paying all that much attention in the second half to be honest. Right after the half began, I leaped from the bleachers and hugged a friend of mine who I went to school with that I hadn't seen in more than a year Cue college nostalgia.

She had a seat courtside - actually courtside, not functionally courtside like the rest of the seats in the Stott Center - and invited me to join her. So we spent more time catching up than the Lumberjacks did.

I'll consider it a victory. And considering the Vikings came into Big Sky play with exactly zero non-conference, Division I wins, I think they should be more than happy that they have a victory and that they are 3-3 in conference play.

I feel a little bad for not paying close attention from courtside seats, especially for such a close game, but I'll make up for it next time.

at PORTLAND STATE 79, NORTHERN ARIZONA 74
01/12/2013

NORTHERN ARIZONA 5-11 (2-4) -- R. Sypkens 4-13 0-0 11; D. Russell 4-10 0-1 10; S. Saldivar 2-3 2-4 6; G. Bewernick 7-10 0-1 14; G. Rogers 7-14 1-1 17; M. Jacobsen 7-9 0-0 14; M. Dunn 2-3 4-4 9; E. Ekanem 2-4 0-0 4; J. Martin 0-2 0-0 0; C. Heine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-55 7-11 74.
PORTLAND STATE 5-8 (3-3) -- M. Harthun 4-10 2-2 13; L. McMullan 4-7 3-5 13; A. Moore 2-6 8-9 12; R. Parker 7-13 6-8 20; G. Winston 5-6 0-0 13; D. Winston Jr. 1-4 0-0 2; B. Cataldo 2-2 0-0 4; M. Harvey 0-3 0-0 0; M. Whitmore 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-52 19-24 79.

Three-point goals: NAU 5-15 (G. Rogers 2-7; M. Dunn 1-2; G. Bewernick 0-1; D. Russell 2-5), POST 8-13 (M. Harthun 3-4; L. McMullan 2-3; D. Winston 0-2; M. Harvey 0-1; G. Winston 3-3); Rebounds: NAU 25 (S. Saldivar 8), POST 25 (R. Parker 11); Assists: NAU 22 (S. Saldivar 6), POST 18 (L. McMullan 7); Total Fouls -- NAU 16, POST 15; Fouled Out: NAU-None; POST-None.