Saturday, March 1st, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Dahlberg Arena (7,321) -- Missoula, Montana. Television: None. Home Record: PSU 10-1, Montana 7-5. Away Record: PSU 7-7, Montana 5-9. Neutral Record: PSU 2-1, Montana 2-0. Conference Record: PSU 12-2, Montana 8-7. Series Record: Series is tied, 21-21.

GAME NOTES: Big Sky Conference regular-season champion Portland State takes to the road for the final time as it challenges the Montana Grizzlies tonight at Dahlberg Arena. On Thursday night, the Vikings completely blew away Montana State on the road in a 96-68 decision leaving no doubt as the team secured the top spot in the standings and will now host the conference tournament beginning March 11th. With the win, PSU extended its conference win streak to 10 in a row and also matched the program's highest win total since joining Division I. As for the Grizzlies, they enter the weekend in a tie for fourth place in the Big Sky standings with a record of 8-7 following an 81-66 triumph over a visiting Northern Colorado squad two nights ago. The victory was the second in a row for Montana, which is now 7-5 at home this year. PSU won the first meeting of the season by just a single bucket at home, 70-68, back on January 31st, and in the process knotted the all-time series at 21 wins apiece.

As if beating Montana State by 28 points were not enough, the Vikings did so by shooting a school-record 70 percent from the field, which included an incredible 11-of-17 effort from behind the arc. Except for Kyle Coston who finished with nine points, every starter hit for double figures beginning with Jeremiah Dominguez who dropped in 26 on 5-of-6 beyond the arc. Deonte Huff and Andre Murray checked in with 15 points apiece and Scott Morrison logged 11 points and eight rebounds. The team sports a trio of double-digit scorers at the moment in Dominguez (14.1 ppg), Huff (13.4 ppg) and Morrison (11.3 ppg), the former leading the unit with 109 assists and the latter on the glass with 6.3 rpg. The squad is putting up 73.4 ppg this season and giving up 68.5 ppg to the opposition.

Montana ran out to an incredible 18-2 lead four and a half minutes into the first half against the Bears on Thursday night and never looked back in the lopsided decision. Andrew Strait knocked down 8-of-11 shots from the field as he registered a double-double consisting of 16 points and a team-best 13 rebounds. Cameron Rundles and Ryan Staudacher both tallied 16 points as well and Jordan Hasquet stretched out his stat line to show 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and six steals, while Ceylon Elgin-Taylor handed out a team-best 11 assists. Hasquet has no quit in him, making it easier to see how he paces the team both in scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg) this season. Strait checks in with 13.4 ppg and is second on the glass with almost seven rebounds per game, and while shooting 63.9 percent from the field is certainly impressive, his mere 63.5 percent at the free-throw line is not.

There might be a bit of a letdown on the part of the Vikings now that they've got the conference locked up, but even that shouldn't keep the visitors in tonight's meeting from ending up in the lose column.

Predicted Outcome

Portland State 78, Montana 71