Weber St. puts the clamps on Portland St.

OGDEN — Basketball, according to Randy Rahe, is not a complicated game.

The first-year Weber State coach has a formula for winning games and if his team follows it, they will have a hard time losing.

"It's a pretty simple game," Rahe said after the Wildcats beat Portland State 75-65. "I tell the kids all the time that if they outdefend teams and outrebound teams, they're probably going to win."

The Wildcats (11-7, 4-1 Big Sky) proved that formula true by limiting the Vikings to 40.7 percent shooting, forcing 21 turnovers and enjoying a 42-30 rebounding edge.

Arturas Valeika had a game the Weber State coaching staff has been waiting for. The 6-foot-9 junior from Lithuania scored 15 points, grabbed a dozen rebounds and blocked a pair of shots to lead the 'Cats when they needed him most.

A whistle-happy crew of officials called 47 fouls in the game and both teams battled through significant stretches of time with key players sitting on the bench.

WSU's David Patten, the team's leading scorer, picked up his fourth foul with nearly 13 minutes to play. Valeika, and 6-8 Tyler Billings, responded well, though, and never let the Vikings take advantage of Patten's absence.

At the time, Weber State held a 44-39 lead. Valeika quickly slammed home four points and when Billings hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, the Wildcats had stretched their lead to 53-43.

The WSU bench, which contributed 27 points, has come up big several times this year.

"All you can do is put in another guy," Rahe said of what happened after Patten took a seat next to him. "Right now, Tyler is kind of a safety blanket for us."

Indeed, Billings reached double figures in scoring for the fourth consecutive game with his 14-point effort on 5-of-6 shooting.

The win was big for Weber State because it meant the Wildcats have now equaled the number of conference wins they had last season and surpassed the overall win total for a year ago.

Weber State looked like it might be on its way to an easy win after a 21-5 rally gave the Wildcats a 33-21 lead midway through the opening half. But the Vikings (11-7, 2-3) responded by forcing the issue inside and drawing a handful of fouls over the final few minutes of the half and closing the gap to 35-31 at the break.