After Cal Poly (2-6) took its only lead of the game at 7-6 with 14:50 left in the first half, the Hornets responded with a 20-2 run, and never trailed the rest of the way. With the victory, Sacramento State has won seven of the last nine games and improved to 8-4 this season, the team’s best record after 12 games in the Div. I era (1991-pres.) and the best record since the 1988-89 squad also began 8-4.

The Hornets improved to 4-0 at home this season and are now 24-8 in the friendly confines dating back to the 2003-04 season. In fact, Sacramento State has won each of its last six regular-season home games dating back to last year.

Leath, who missed the first three games of the season with a skin infection, went 9-of-13 from the field, including five three-pointers in just seven attempts. He has now scored in double figures four times this year (including 19 points vs. William Jessup, 17 points at San Francisco and 14 vs. Long Beach State), and is now averaging 9.8 points per game this season.

After averaging just 8.3 points and shooting 21.4 percent from the field through his first three games of the season, Harris is back in a form which earned him Big Sky Conference preseason player of the year honors from five different publications. Since the three-game slump, Harris has scored in double figures in nine-straight games and is averaging 15.4 points while shooting 49.0 percent from the field over that span.

During the Hornets’ 20-2 run, junior Clark Woods had a pair of three-pointers and Leath had a three-pointer as Sacramento State mounted a first-half high 17-point lead. The Mustangs clawed their way back into the game, trailing by as little as four points (40-36) after a Derek Stockalper lay-up with 16:56 remaining in the contest. However, the Mustangs would no closer the rest of the way as Sacramento State broke things open with a 13-4 run over a 4:36 span midway through the second half to take a 64-49 lead with 7:51 remaining.

The Hornets led by at least nine points the rest of the way as the team’s 21-point margin of victory was also their largest lead of the night. Sacramento State shot an even 50.0 percent (29-58) from the field and has now shot 50.0 percent or better in five games this year after accomplishing the feat twice all of last season.

The Hornets also knocked down nine three-pointers in 24 attempts (37.5 percent) as Harris (one), Hargrave (one), Woods (two) and Leath all connected from long range. Sacramento State’s defense also forced 19 Cal Poly turnovers and had 10 steals and six blocked shots. Junior Alex Bausley finished with seven points, four rebounds, three assists and a game-high five steals. Bausley, who entered the game second in the Big Sky in steals, now has 18 steals in his last four games.

Senior point guard DaShawn Freeman finished nine points, eight assists, four rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals. Hargrave had eight points and Woods finished with six. The Hornets used all 13 active players for the fourth-straight game and sixth time in the last nine contests.

Cal Poly was led by Stockalper’s 20 points and seven rebounds while Clayton Osborn chipped in 11 points. The Mustangs shot 38.0 percent (19-50) from the field (including four three-pointers) and 77.3 percent (17-22) from the free-throw line.

Sacramento State returns to action for arguably its toughest game of the season as the Hornets will march into Pauley Pavilion to take on 12th-ranked UCLA for the first time in program history. The game will mark the second of the season for the Hornets against a ranked opponent as the team fell at 20th-ranked Nevada, 82-74, on Nov. 19.