Recap: Portland State vs. Northern Colorado

Portland, OR (Sports Network) - Charles Odum hit a pair of clutch free-throws with three seconds remaining to give the Portland State Vikings a 75-74 win over the Northern Colorado Bears in Big Sky Conference play at the Stott Center.

Odum finished with a game-high 22 points for Portland State (16-13, 10-6 Big Sky), who have won six of seven and will be the third-seed in the upcoming Big Sky Conference Tournament. Michael Harthun scored 14 points, Chehales Tapscott added 12 points, and Renado Parker came off the bench to put up 10 points for the Vikings.

For Northern Colorado (9-19, 5-11), Tate Unruh scored 20 points, Mike Proctor tallied 12 points and eight boards, and Emmanuel Addo netted 11 points. Connor Osborne and Tevin Svihovec added 10 points apiece for the Bears, who close out their season losing three of their last four.

Northern Colorado shot 40 percent from the field in the first half while Portland State connected on just 37.5 percent of its field goals. The Vikings were able to take a 34-32 lead into intermission however by going 12-of-18 from the foul line. The Bears hit just 1-of-4 from the free-throw stripe.

The teams spent most of the second half within just a few points of each other, exchanging ties and leads. The Bears went up 74-71 with 37 seconds remaining on a Svihovec layup. After a missed opportunity by the Vikings, they fouled Svihovec, who missed the front end of a 1-and-1, leading to a Tapscott bucket to cut the Viking deficit to 74-73 with 14 seconds left. Portland State fouled Svihovec again, and again he missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving the Vikings one last possession, where Odum drew a foul and knocked down his free-throws to take a 75-74 lead. Northern Colorado's last-second three- pointer did not fall, giving Portland State the win.

There's no question the difference was made at the foul line, as Portland State went 20-of-30, while Northern Colorado shot just 1-of-6.