Six of Pugh’s 25 points came during the final 3:30 of the contest as he hit a three-pointers at the 3:24 mark to increase the Hornet lead to eight points, and added one more three-pointer at the 1:44 mark to increase the Hornet lead to six points. His first three-pointer stopped a 12-2 Southern Utah run, and his second three-pointer came 19 seconds after Southern Utah inched to within three points of Sacramento State’s lead.

The Hornets led by as many as 22 points (at the 13:27 mark) in the second half before the Thunderbirds went on a 35-16 run over the next 11 minutes to cut the lead to three points. After going 1-of-7 from the three-point line in the first half, Southern Utah went 7-of-14 from beyond the arc in the second half, including four over a span of four minutes.

The Hornets never trailed during the entire game as Sacramento State won its home opener for the sixth-consecutive season. The Hornets, who opened the season with a loss at Michigan on Friday, improved to 1-1 on the season while the Thunderbirds dropped to 1-1. Over its last 16 games at home (spanning parts of three seasons), Sacramento State is 12-4.

Pugh went 8-of-15 from the field and 4-for-7 from the three-point arc (all four threes in the second half) to go along with three steals. Harris, who went 5-of-8 from the field and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, scored each of the Hornets’ final 11 points of the first half as Sacramento State went into the break with a 39-21 lead. Harris’ previous career high had been 10 points against UC Riverside last year.

Bausley, who scored a team-high tying nine points against Michigan, posted his first career double-double as he added a career and game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his 12 points. Five of the sophomore’s 10 boards came on the offensive glass as he leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per game this season.

The Hornets shot 45.5 percent (25-55) from the field and 40.0 percent (8-20) from beyond the three-point line, while forcing Southern Utah into 24 turnovers. Hornet junior DaShawn Freeman had five of the Sacramento State’s 10 steals while also tallying five assists and six points. Junior Aaron Perry, who started his second-consecutive game at center for the Hornets, had six points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes. Junior Jason Harris added nine points, five rebounds, four assists, one blocked shot and one steal.

Southern Utah, which shot 40.6 percent (26-64) from the field, could not overcome its free-throw woes as the team went just 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from the charity stripe. The Thunderbirds were led by Tim Gainey’s 23 points and eight rebounds as 12 of those points came in the second half. Jason Baker scored all 10 of his points in the second half and DeAngelo Newsom tallied seven points, eight rebounds and a game-high tying five steals.

Jason Harris, E.J. Harris, Pugh and Bausley combined for 81.1 percent of the team’s offense.

Sacramento State returns to action this Saturday, Nov. 27, as the team travels to Long Beach State for a 1:05 p.m. game. The Hornets defeated the 49ers, 73-51, last year in Sacramento.