Portland St. 61, Idaho St. 53

Published Mar. 11, 2009 2:17 a.m. ET

foxsports

Andre Murray scored 21 points and Portland State survived a shaky second half and held off Idaho State 61-53 Tuesday in a Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal. Phil Nelson scored 14 for the Vikings (22-9), who went just 5-for-23 in the second half and nearly blew a 21-point lead. Idaho State (13-19) opened the second half on an 18-3 run, holding the Vikings scoreless for nearly nine minutes, but could not get any closer than three. Lucas Steijn scored 16 and Amorrow Morgan finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Bengals, who outrebounded the Vikings 26-13 in the second half.