MEN'S HOOPS' LAST REGULAR SEASON ROAD TRIP BEGINS THURSDAY AT MONTANA STATE

2/16/2010

GAME PREVIEW

With just four games remaining in the regular season, Sacramento State (9-17, 3-9) travels to Bozeman to face Montana State (13-12, 7-6) on Thursday, Feb. 18...tip at Worthington Arena is 6:05 p.m. PST...in the teams’ earlier meeting against one another in Sacramento (Jan. 17), the Bobcats prevailed, 58-53...in that game, both teams shot poorly from the field (34 percent), but Montana State went to the free throw line 33 times compared to Sacramento State’s 12 attempts...in fact, the Hornets converted six more field goals, but 18 less free throws than the Bobcats...Montana State clinched a spot in the Big Sky Tournament with Saturday’s victory at Portland State and currently sits in fourth place in the league standings...conversely, Sacramento State, which sits in ninth place, still has a chance to make the league’s six-team postseason field, but time is running short...the Hornets are just 1.5 games back of sixth-place Northern Arizona (5-8), and will host NAU on Feb. 26...however, the Hornets would also have to leap frog seventh-place Eastern Washington (4-8) and eighth-place Idaho State (4-9) to have an opportunity at cracking the league’s top six teams...Sacramento State already has seven more wins that all of last season when the team finished 2-27...the Hornets have split their last four games, but suffered their worst defeat of the season, a 31-point setback at Seattle on Feb. 13...though Sacramento State is 4-11 away from home this year (3-10 on the road), that is light years better than the Hornets’ combined mark of 2-45 the previous three seasons outside of Sacramento...Montana State leads the all-time series between the two teams, 22-12, and has won the last four meetings...the Bobcats have won the last three meetings in Bozeman with the Hornets’ last win at Worthington coming in the 2006 Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals...Thursday 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.msubobcats.com.

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