MEN'S BASKETBALL HOSTS PORTLAND STATE FRIDAY NIGHT

2/3/2010

GAME PREVIEW

Fresh off a convincing 72-55 victory at Idaho State that wrapped up a season-long four-game road trip, Sacramento State (8-15, 2-8) returns home to play Portland State (9-12, 4-5) on Friday night, Feb. 5...tip at the Nest is 7:05 p.m...the win at Idaho State snapped a 27-game Big Sky road losing streak that dated back to Dec. 30, 2006, a 74-70 win at Northern Colorado...now, the Hornets return to the Nest, a place where the team is 4-5 this season...four of those five losses inside the friendly confines have come by five points or less, including losses to UC Riverside (59-58), Loyola Marymount (82-78), Montana (57-56) and Montana State (58-53)...the loss to Montana State on Jan. 17 was the last time Sacramento State has played at home...the only home loss that wasn’t close came against Weber State (80-65) on Dec. 5...Sacramento State has dropped eight of its last 10 games overall, but five of those eight losses came by five points or less...the Hornets have played nine games this year that have been decided by five points or less (3-6 in those contests) after playing just one that was decided by less than seven points during the entire 2008-09 season...Portland State has lost five of its last seven games, but used a 40-18 run to erase a 14-point second half deficit last Saturday in an 85-77 win at Eastern Washington...the Vikings are 3-9 on the road this year, including 1-4 against conference teams...PSU features two of the best three-point shooters in the conference in Dominic Waters (.450, 45-100) and Melvin Jones (.472, 60-127)...those two players combined to score 41 points and bury 8-of-14 three-pointers in a 94-66 win over the Hornets in Portland earlier this year...Sacramento State is 9-20 all-time against Portland State, and has lost the last six games in the series...however, the Hornets are 8-6 against the Vikings in Sacramento...Friday night’s game can be heard live locally on KRJY 1240 AM, and on the internet via www.hornetsports.com with 13th year play-by-play announcer Steve McElroy calling all the action...live video of the game is available and free via www.bigskytv.org, and live stats will be offered at www.hornetsports.com.

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