Weber State basketball: Sessions' shooting helps Wildcats win

OGDEN — Weber State guard Franklin Session felt insulted.

Portland State focused its defense on other Wildcats in Friday night's game. The Vikings sagged off Session when he had the ball on the perimeter, basically saying they'd take their chances that he couldn't beat them with the outside shot.

Their roll of the dice did not pay off.

Session poured in a career-high 24 points, shooting 9-for-11 with two 3-pointers, to lead Weber State to a closer-than-it-needed-to-be 86-83 win over Portland State. The first-place Wildcats improved to 6-1 in the Big Sky and 12-7 overall. The Vikings fell to 3-4 and 8-11.

Session let the Vikings' bench know what he thought of what he perceived to be disrespect of his shooting abilities late in the first half. He made a 3-pointer to put Weber State up 39-27, turned to Portland State's bench and said, "Y'all think I can't shoot."

"After that I just got going," Session said. "Talking gave me that extra edge, helped me play better. They say I can't shoot it, but I showed it tonight. I can shoot it when I'm needed to shoot the ball."

Wildcats coach Randy Rahe said Session's shooting was a result of the guard playing to his strengths.

"I think Frank played an all-around good basketball game," Rahe said, noting his aggressiveness on defense, chasing down rebounds and driving the ball on offense. "When Franklin plays to his strengths, eventually he'll get a wide-open look from 3 and he'll make it."

The Wildcats needed Session's points, as well as a balanced scoring effort from the rest of the roster, to hold off the high-flying Vikings. Weber State seemingly had the game in hand when it led 46-33 after a 3-pointer by Nick Hansen to start the second half, when it was up 58-50 after Session hit a jumper, and when it led 70-61 after Damian Lillard converted a three-point play with 3:57 left in the game.

Pesky Portland State, however, just wouldn't go away. The Vikings made the game's final minute interesting by pressing Weber State and forcing it to make mistakes. Melvin Jones hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left to get Portland State close at 78-76. The Wildcats maintained their lead by making free throws, but the Vikings had chances to tie it in the final seconds.

Dominic Waters, who led Portland State with 21 points, missed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left and Julius Thomas got the offensive rebound and tossed it out to Jones, who was waiting for the ball in 3-point range. He got a good look at the basket, but missed as time expired.

After leading for nearly the entire game, the Wildcats were relieved those shots missed and they didn't have to play overtime.

"It really shouldn't have come down to that point," Rahe said. "We're usually really good against pressure and presses and tonight for some reason we made uncharacteristic mistakes. We'll get those solved. I'm just glad he (Jones) missed the shot."

Weber State had four players score in double figures, as Lillard had 15 points, Lindsey Hughey had 13 off the bench and center Steve Panos had 10. The Wildcats got good production off their bench from Darin Mahoney, Trevor Morris and Hughey. They improved to 8-0 when at least four players score in double figures.

Weber State plays the second of back-to-back home games tonight against Eastern Washington. The Eagles, who lost to Idaho State on Friday night, have dropped three straight league games.

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com