Portland St. 67, N. Arizona 51

3/12/2008 10:18 PM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -For the first time, Portland State is NCAA tournament bound.

Deonte Huff scored 17 points to lead the Vikings to a 67-51 victory over Northern Arizona in the championship game of the Big Sky Conference tournament.

``Our guys did a great job tonight,'' Portland State coach Ken Bone. ``We shot well. There's a lot of mental toughness and confidence on our team now.''

Kyle Coston added 14 points for top-seeded Portland State (23-9), which won its 14th straight Big Sky game, and Andre Murray had 13 points. Jeremiah Dominguez chipped in nine points and six assists.

Nate Geiser led Northern Arizona (21-11) with 13 points and Kyle Landry had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lumberjacks.

Portland State closed the first half with an 18-4 run that put them ahead 34-20 at halftime. The Vikings maintained their lead in the second half and led by as many as 17 points late in the game. Northern Arizona closed to within nine points but did not challenge down the stretch.

``We wanted it more all season,'' Huff said. ``Our guys stepped up and moved the ball. Everyone went out and got it.''

PSU shot 44 percent for the game and held NAU to just 34 percent from the field. The Lumberjacks outrebounded the Vikings 39-30.

Portland State made six of its first nine shots. After Coston connected on a 3-pointer with 16:01 left in the first half, the Vikings were up 14-8.

``We wanted to intimidate them early because who knew what they were capable of,'' Huff said. ``Coston he hit his open shots and was a key to the win in both of our games.''

Northern Arizona pulled even at 16-16 when Matt Johnson hit a 3-pointer and was fouled with 12:02 left in the first half.

Portland State went on its 18-4 run at the end of the first half that included Huff's break-away dunk, Dominguez's steal and jumper, and back-to-back 3-pointers by Brian Curtis and Dupree Lucas that put the Vikings ahead 34-20 at halftime.

Northern Arizona scored just one field goal in the last 12 minutes of the first half and never made a serious run the rest of the game.

``What was most impressive to me was that our guys did a great job of holding NAU to 10 points in 15 minutes,'' Bone said. ``We saw last night how good NAU was but they are better than they showed tonight. I think it had a lot to do with our guys' aggressive defense.''

The Vikings will await the NCAA tournament bracket announcement Sunday to find out who and where they will play next.

``Whoever we play we will continue to do what we have talked about all season, which is going out and playing to the best of our ability,'' Bone said. ``It's nice to have a short break before the selection on Sunday night.''