With the victory, the Hornets defeated the Dons in San Francisco for the first time in school history, and improved their record on the young season to 3-2. Sacramento State, which had been 1-7 all-time against USF (including 0-5 at War Memorial), won its second straight game, and will head to UC Davis on Wednesday, Nov. 30, for the second of the team’s three-game road trip.

With the loss, San Francisco dropped to 1-3 on the season. Prior to this afternoon, Sacramento State had lost each of its previous three meetings against USF in San Francisco by an average of 30.0 points.

Joining Freeman in double figures for the Hornets were junior Haron Hargrave (17 points, three assists and two steals), freshman Loren Leath (17 points), senior Jason Harris (16 points, team-high nine rebounds, two steals) and junior Alex Bausley (10 points, three assists). After missing the first three games of the season with a skin injury, Leath is now averaging 18.0 points during the first two games of his major college career.

Freeman was a model of consistency as the Oakland, Calif., native went 6-of-7 from the floor, including a career-high five three-pointers in just six attempts.

The Hornets shot 54.9 percent (28-51) from the field, a blistering 62.5 percent (10-16) from beyond the three-point line, and 79.2 percent (19-24) from the free-throw line. The Hornets were outscored in the paint, 40-26, but continued to come up with clutch shot after clutch shot during the latter stages of the contest. In fact, Sacramento State never trailed during the second half and built a lead as large as 10 points during the final period (55-45 with 12:53 to play).

After the Dons’ Drew Shiller hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 67-67 with 4:14 to play, Sacramento State did not miss from the field the rest of the night, going 5-for-5 from the floor and 7-for-8 during the final four minutes. A layup from Leath (3:41), a three-pointer (2:50) and lay-up (2:10) from Freeman, a runner from Leath (1:39) and Freeman’s runner (0:18) helped put USF away. In fact, Freeman scored seven of his 18 points during the game’s final three minutes. Including four perfect free throws and two perfect field goal attempts, Leath scored eight points during the final 3:41 of the contest.

San Francisco had five players score in double figures, comprised of Jason Wallace-Carter (23 points, seven rebounds), Alan Wiggins (13 points), Domanic Ingerson (13 points), Armondo Surratt (12 points, nine assists) and Jerome Gumbs (10 points, game-high 10 rebounds).

USF shot 46.2 percent (30-65) from the field and 35.3 percent (6-17) from beyond the arc. The rebounding battle was even at 33-33.

Trailing, 6-5, Sacramento State when on a 16-4 run over a span of six minutes during the first half to take its largest lead of the game at 11 points (21-20) with 10:38 remaining. Six different Hornets scored during the run, including all of Bausley’s five first-half points.

San Francisco, however, responded with a 17-2 run (including eight of Jason Wallace-Carter’s 15 first-half points) to take its largest lead of the game at four points (27-23) with 4:54 left on the clock. The Hornets bounced back with an 11-5 run to close the half and go into the break with a 34-32 lead.

Sacramento State used a 21-13 run over the opening 7:40 of the first half to take its largest lead of the second period, 55-45. Freeman and Hargrave each scored seven points during the run, including a jumper, two free throws and a three-pointer on back-to-back-to-back possessions by Hargrave.

The Dons bounced back with a 22-12 run to finally draw even at 67-67, before Sacramento State did not miss a field goal attempt the rest of the afternoon.

Tipoff against UC Davis at The Pavilion is schedule for 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday. Sacramento State leads the all-time series with the Aggies, 60-40, but UC Davis won in overtime over the Hornets last season in Sacramento.