PORTLAND, Ore. - When the final buzzer sounded, Joe O'Brien and Ken Bone looked at each other, pointed to different sides of the court and waved goodbye.

There would be no postgame handshake line after this game.

That's because both coaches were concerned there was still bad blood between their teams.

At halftime, the two teams had a skirmish while they were trying to get to their locker rooms.

Basically every player on each team was involved in some way - shoving, yelling or trying to break up the fight - and O'Brien and Bone themselves were left trying to break the scuffle up.

After the game, neither side said too much about it.

"I'm not really sure what started it," Portland State's Phil Nelson said. "One of their guys shoved Dominic Waters, and then everybody got into it. I don't think much was said other than them being down at half and a little frustrated."

Bone said all he saw was "a lot of swinging."

O'Brien, who was in the middle of it, said he didn't know how it got going either. He agreed that it was nothing more than one team being up by a lot and the other down by a lot.

"You've got one team feeling good about themselves and one feeling pretty disappointed," O'Brien said. "It's unfortunate that it happened, but it's probably not the best idea to have the teams leaving the court at the same time through a narrow door like that. It's not a good time for the players to mingle."

One player was ejected from the game, an inactive Portland State player, but everyone else came out to play in the second half.

Junior guard Amorrow Morgan said the skirmish would motivate him when Portland State comes to Holt Arena on Feb. 12.

"I'll be ready to play them again," he said. "I'm sure about that."

Bay injured

Kal Bay flew into Portland yesterday after being stuck in Pocatello with an illness, but it looks like he will be headed back to the sidelines.

The junior guard was slow getting to the court for the second half, and when he emerged from the locker room, he had a brace around his right hand.

O'Brien said Idaho State's trainer told him he may have broken his hand.

If that is the case, it's a loss the Bengals could live without.

"Kal is the one guy we consistently count on to make a few 3's," O'Brien said. "If he's not available, that really affects the complexion of our team."

Caspari breakthrough

Portland State is such a tough matchup for Idaho State that Joe O'Brien didn't know what lineup to throw on the court against the Vikings.

He tried two big men, he tried four guards and he even tried seldom-used forward Felix Caspari.

That last move, at least, paid off.

Caspari got open in passing lanes throughout the second half and scored a career-high 10 points off mainly layups. O'Brien was pleased to see that improvement.

"Felix is kind of like our junkyard dog," O'Brien said. "He works really hard and found his niche out there tonight."