In addition, Freeman, who led the conference and ranks eighth in the nation in steals (77), was named the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year, an award he shared with Montana State center Al Beye. The Hornets have now placed three players on the Big Sky all-conference team in consecutive seasons after failing to accomplish the feat during the team’s first eight years in the league. Freeman and Bausley were two of 13 players from the eight-team league that received first team accolades.

Sacramento State’s three all-conference selections tied for the most in the league, and Leath became the first Hornet freshman to receive Big Sky accolades since Nate Murase also earned honorable mention honors in 1998-99.

Eastern Washington’s Rodney Stuckey was named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year while also becoming the first freshman in league history to earn conference Most Valuable Player honors. Northern Arizona’s Tyrone Bazy was named the league’s top newcomer.

In his fourth season, Freeman earned first team accolades for the first time in his career after receiving honorable mention honors last season. The 5-11, 175-pound point guard from Oakland, Calif., ranks among team leaders in points (12.9 ppg), assists (5.6 apg), steals (2.8 spg), three-pointers (45), free throws (86), free throws attempted (108) and minutes (31.9 mpg). Currently the Sacramento State program leader in both career assists (492) and steals (278), Freeman became the Big Sky’s all-time steals leader earlier this season and ranks sixth in league history in assists.

This season, Freeman has led the Hornets in scoring a team-high tying seven times and has scored at least 17 points on 11 occasions, including a career-high 27 at Idaho State. He has 17 games with double figures in points and is 38 points shy of becoming the program’s sixth 1,000 point scorer. Freeman is the only Hornet to start all 28 games this year.

Bausley, who received all-conference accolades for the first time in his career, is averaging 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 49.3 percent (147-298) from the field. The 6-6, 235-pound forward from Los Angeles upped his average to 15.4 points per game during league play (7th in the Big Sky). Bausley averaged 2.9 points per game as a freshman, and after dropping 35 pounds prior to his sophomore season, upped his average to 10.4 points per game in 2004-05.

He leads the Hornets with 20 double-figure efforts this season (including five games with at least 20 points) and has scored at least eight points in all but two of the Hornets’ 28 games. Among those games was a career-high 28-point effort at Nevada, who was ranked 22nd in the nation at the time.

After missing the first three games of the season because of injury, Leath is averaging 11.2 points per game. The 6-2, 180-pound shooting guard from Oakland, Calif., leads the Hornets with 49 three-pointers and is tied for sixth in the Big Sky with an average of 1.96 three-pointers per game. Including a career-high 26 points vs. Idaho State and 23 more last Monday night at Montana State, Leath has scored in double figures 13 times this season.

He has posted five games with at least 20 points and is shooting a deadly 90.9 percent (30-33) from the free-throw line. Leath is also shooting 37.7 percent (49-130) from beyond the arc and scored at least 10 points in eight conference games.

Sacramento State, which finished the regular season with a 14-14 overall record and a 5-9 mark in the conference, opens Big Sky Tournament play this Saturday, March 4, when the team travels to Bozeman, Mont., to take on Montana State. Should the Hornets win, they would play the semifinal round against either host Northern Arizona or Montana in Flagstaff, Ariz., on March 7. The tournament championship game is also in Flagstaff on March 8 at 6:35 p.m. PST. That game is being aired live on ESPN2.