The victory improved the Eagles to 10-11 overall and 4-3 in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets, who suffered their third-straight loss, dropped to 8-13 overall and 2-5 in league games. Sacramento State also saw its Big Sky road losing streak stretch to 44 games.

The Hornets held just one lead, 3-1, during the game. From that point, EWU went on a 16-2 run and never looked back. Sparking the early surge was the play of Hester and Snow. Hester scored six of the team’s 16 points while Snow added five. The Eagles stretched the advantage to 17, 29-12, before Sacramento State began to respond.

The Hornets closed within 10, 31-21, following a pair of threes by Joel Jones with 3:40 left in the first half. The two teams then traded baskets for the rest of the period until EWU went into the intermission with a 14-point edge (40-26).

The Eagles built their lead to 17 on three occasions early in the second half before Sacramento State, once again, pulled within 10. The Hornets’ final push came with 15:51 left in the game when Joe Dawson scored two of his team-high 24 points on a layup. EWU responded with seven-straight points to put the game out of reach.

The team’s 20-point loss was its worst since falling, 100-66, at UC Riverside on Dec. 27, 2001. It was also the program’s largest Big Sky defeat since losing at Idaho State, 107-79, in last season’s finale.

Dawson’s 24 points capped a weekend in which he scored 54 points. The junior, who tallied a career-high 30 at Portland State on Friday, made 7-of-13 shots from the field including three three-pointers. Dawson has now scored 20-plus points in eight games this year.

Junior Joel Jones was the only other Sacramento State player to crack double-figures. Jones was 5-of-13 from the field for 12 points. Cedric Thompkins led the team with nine rebounds.

Hester led all players with 11 field goals on 17 attempts. He also grabbed nine boards. Snow was 10-for-13 overall including four treys. T.J. Williams led all players with 10 rebounds.

Sacramento State returns home to host Weber State on Friday and Idaho State on Saturday. Both games will be held at Hornet Gym and will tip off at 7:05 p.m.

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