MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYS TELEVISED GAME SATURDAY AT MONTANA

2/19/2010

GAME PREVIEW

With just three games left in the regular season, including its final contest on the road, Sacramento State (9-18, 3-10) travels to Missoula to face Montana (18-8, 9-5) on Saturday, Feb. 20...tip-off at Dahlberg Arena is 3:05 p.m. PST...the game is being televised live on Altitude Sports & Entertainment (DirecTV channel 681; Dish Network channel 410), and is being aired locally on a tape delay basis on Comcast SportsNet California (DirecTV channel 698; Dish Network channel 409) on Sunday at 3 p.m...Sacramento State is coming off a six-point loss at Montana State on Thursday in which the Hornets erased a 15-point second-half deficit to take a two-point lead with 1:51 remaining...however, Sacramento State turned the ball over on its next two possessions and the Bobcats took advantage, eventually winning by six points...the Hornets are now 4-12 away from home this year (3-11 on the road, 1-1 at neutral sites), dramatically improving on a 2-45 combined record outside of Sacramento the previous three seasons...with the loss on Thursday, the Hornets are now 3-7 in games decided by six points or less...that includes a heartbreaking 57-56 loss to Montana in Sacramento earlier this season (Jan. 15)...in that game, the Hornets had a three-point lead with 1:28 remaining, but failed to score the rest of the way...Sacramento State is sitting two games behind sixth-place Portland State (5-8) and, at this point, will need a miracle to make the Big Sky Tournament...the top six teams in the conference reach the league’s postseason event, and the Hornets would still need to leapfrog both Eastern Washington (4-9) and Idaho State (4-9) to have a shot at the top six...conversely, Montana has won five of its last six games, and is in the hunt for a bye in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament...the Grizzlies (9-5) are a game back of second-place Northern Colorado (10-4) with two games left...Montana owns a 27-5 all-time record in the series with Sacramento State and has won the last six meetings spanning three years...the Hornets’ last win in the series came on Jan. 4, 2007, an 80-72 home victory...the Hornets have dropped six straight in Missoula with the last win coming in a Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal game on March 8, 2003...Saturday’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 at www.bigskytv.org, and live stats will be offered at www.montanagrizzlies.com.

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