Portland State defeats Nevada 61-56

PORTLAND, Ore. - Dony Wilcher and Felix Lang each scored 13 points to lead Portland State to a 61-56 win over Nevada on Sunday.

Anthony Lackey added eight points for the Vikings (1-4) as they picked up their first victory of the season.

''It's a good win for us,'' said Portland State coach Joel Sobotka. ''Nevada is a physical team and I'm proud of the 40-minute effort we gave today.''

Nevada had to do without leading scorer Terrance Green after he left nine minutes in with an ankle injury and did not return.

''I couldn't wait to get back to Portland,'' the Benson High School graduate said. ''I'm disappointed I couldn't play more but we have to regroup now.''

Andre Hazel led Nevada (4-1) with 13 points and Joao Santos added nine points and eight rebounds. Nevada coach Trent Johnson said his team ''didn't shoot very well today or take care of the ball. I give PSU a lot of credit. They played well.''

Both teams struggled offensively from the floor. The Vikings shot 36 percent from the field while Nevada shot 31 percent.

After battling back from a five-point deficit early in the second half, the Vikings made 9 of 12 free throws to seal the victory.

Nevada went scoreless for six minutes late in the second half but pulled to within two points with less than a minute to go. Two free throws by Kevin Briggs with 12 seconds left put the game out of reach.

''We had some bad games to start the year but today we decided we needed to buckle down and get things right,'' Wilcher said. ''We rebounded better today and came out with more energy in the second half.''

Portland State led most of the first half and built a 10-point lead with five minutes left when Luke Dean hit a short jumper.

But the Vikings' offense cooled and went more than five minutes without a score while the Wolf Pack reeled off a 13-2 run to take a 31-30 lead with less than a minute before halftime.