MEN'S HOOPS LOOKS FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WIN SATURDAY AT EASTERN WASHINGTON

2/3/2012

Junior swingman Joe Eberhard is averaging 10.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 35.3 minutes for the Hornets

GAME PREVIEW

Sacramento State (7-14, 2-8) plays its 11th road game of the season Saturday when the team travels to Eastern Washington (11-12, 5-5)…tip-off at Reese Court is 6:05 p.m…after beginning the conference season with an 0-8 record, the Hornets have won two straight, and the two victories have come by an average of 22.5 points…that includes a 34-point home victory over Northern Arizona (77-43) on Saturday, and a road win at Northern Colorado (73-62) on Thursday…despite being seven games below the .500 mark overall, Sacramento State has been outscored by just 1.5 points per game…the win over NAU snapped a nine-game losing streak, and the win over Northern Colorado snapped a seven-game road losing streak…what seemed like a long shot just last week, Sacramento State can now legitimately set its sights on the possibility of a Big Sky Tournament berth…the Hornets are just two games back of the sixth and final spot into the league’s postseason tournament with six conference games remaining on the schedule…Sacramento State has struggled in close games as the team is 0-5 in games decided by five points or less, and 1-8 in games decided by single digits…Eastern Washington is under the leadership of Jim Hayford, and the first-year head coach has already guided the Eagles to one more victory (11) than all of last season (10-20)…EWU’s duo of Collin Chiverton (16.9 ppg) and Cliff Colimon (14.3 ppg) rank third and sixth, respectively, among Big Sky leaders in scoring…the Hornets are 9-26 all-time against Eastern Washington, including a 1-16 mark when playing in Cheney…Sacramento State has dropped 15 straight games in Cheney, with the last win coming on Jan. 19, 1995 (a 68-67 victory)…the Hornets fell at home earlier this season to EWU by a 65-60 score (Jan. 12)…Saturday’s game can be heard on the internet at www.hornetsports.com with 15th year play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy calling all the action…like every game played in a Big Sky venue, a free live video stream is available at www.bigskytv.org…live stats of the game can be found at www.goeags.com.

For Sacramento State's complete set of game notes, click on the link above the story.