PORTLAND, Ore. – Senior guard Ben Grandle had an explosive game from behind the arc tonight as he led his team in a 82-100 exhibition loss to Division I Portland State University at Peter W. Stott Center on Saturday night.
 
Hitting 8-of-13 three-pointers, Grandle finished the night with 24 points, the second most in the game only behind Portland State's Cameron Forte with 31.
 
Following Grandle was junior center Thomas Simien who tallied 19 points and added eight rebounds.
 
"Tremendous game tonight by the whole team but the combination of Simien and Grandle made an absolute difference," said head coach Curt Bickley.
 
The Lions started out strong in the first half, scoring the first few points to take a quick four point lead. The size and speed of the DI Vikings quickly caught up to them though, as Portland State put together a quick run to jump ahead 25-15.
 
The first half finished heavily in favor of the Vikings, as they took a 23-points lead, 57-34, heading into halftime.
 
Senior guard Blake Updike continued to score well for MU, finishing with 15 points while fellow senior Jordan Paris tallied 12 points and a team high 9 rebounds.
 
As a team, the Lions shot 40 percent from the field while shooting 37.5 percent from the 3-points line, hitting 15 threes in the game.
 
Portland State took their largest lead of the night with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game after two free throws made it 82-48.
 
The Lions still had some fight left as they went off on a 20-point run, cutting the lead to 14 with just under seven minutes to play.
 
"Thomas had a great game scoring and rebounding while Gandle's eight threes on a DI floor as a true freshman was really impressive."
 
The Lions will open up Cascade Collegiate Conference play for first team as being members of the conference on Tuesday night as they welcome in Warner Pacific at home.