MEN’S BASKETBALL’S BIG SECOND HALF COMEBACK FALLS JUST SHORT IN 80-74 LOSS AT MONTANA STATE

2/18/2010

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Sacramento State freshman John Dickson scored a game-high 22 points and the Hornets nearly came back from a 15-point second-half deficit before eventually falling to Montana State, 80-74, in a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game Thursday evening at Worthington Arena.

Sacramento State, which trailed nearly the entire game, found itself down, 14-7, early on and scrambled nearly the entire first half to stay in the game. Montana State went into the break with a 38-25 lead, and eventually opened up a game-high 15-point lead (45-30) with 16:43 left in the contest.

However, that is when the Hornets began to catch fire from the field. Sacramento State made nine of its first 10 three-point attempts of the second half, and couldn’t miss from long range. MSU was able to maintain at least a seven-point lead for a good portion of the second stanza despite the hot shooting. It was a Marquis Navarre layup that put the Bobcats up, 65-52, with 7:19 remaining in the game.

At that point, the Hornets went on a 20-5 run, capped by a Duro Bjegovic layup that gave Sacramento State its first lead of the game at 72-70 with 1:51 remaining. During the run, the Hornets received three-pointers from four different players over a span of six possessions from Bjegovic, Sultan Toles-Bey, Dickson and Mike Marcial, respectively.

Montana State was able to answer with a pair of free throws by Branden Johnson to tie the game at 72-72 with 1:28 left. On Sacramento State’s ensuing possession, the Hornets whittled the shot clock down and set up a play for what would have been a wide open three-point attempt for the red-hot Dickson. However, Dickson fumbled the pass, and by the time he recovered, the shot clock had expired and Sacramento State was credited with a turnover.

The Bobcats were able to take the lead when, after fumbling a pass from Johnson, Will Bynum secured the ball in the lane and made a circus shot lay-up that hit the rim a few times before dropping in. Still, the Hornets had the ball down two points (74-72) with 43 seconds left. After dribbling across the halfcourt line, Toles-Bey made an errant pass that was intercepted by Bynum and he converted on an easy layup to give MSU a four-point with 20 seconds remaining. The Hornets missed two three-point attempts in the final 14 seconds, and Montana State was able to convert six of its last seven free throws to help seal the 80-74 win.

With the loss, Sacramento State dropped to 9-18 overall and 3-10 in the Big Sky. With just three games remaining on the regular season schedule, the Hornets are 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.

The Hornets’ final three regular season games will come Saturday at Montana, and home games next week against Northern Arizona (Feb. 26) and Northern Colorado (Feb. 27). Northern Arizona (6-8) defeated Portland State in double overtime earlier this evening.

With the victory, Montana State (14-12, 9-6) sweeps the season series from Sacramento State, having defeated the Hornets earlier this year in Sacramento (58-53). The Bobcats have now won the last five meetings between the two teams. In addition, Montana State, sitting in fourth place in the league standings, clinched at least a Big Sky Tournament home quarterfinal game with the win.

The Bobcats shot a remarkable 34 free throws in the contest compared to just 13 for Sacramento State. That turned out to be a huge factor in the game as MSU converted on 26 of those attempts (76.5 percent) while the Hornets made 11 of their freebies (84.6 percent). That was almost an identical disparity when these teams met in Sacramento on Feb. 18. In that game, MSU went 26-of-33 from the free throw line while the Hornets were 8-of-12.

After shooting 26.5 percent in the first half, Sacramento State connected on 58.6 percent (17-29) of its shots in the second half, including 9-of-12 from distance. The Hornets finished the game 11-of-22 from the three-point line, including 4-of-5 from Dickson. Sacramento State also scored 24 points off turnovers compared to the Bobcats’ nine.

Montana State’s proficiency from the field was a big factor as the team converted on 53.5 percent (23-43) of its attempts, including 8-of-16 from distance. The Bobcats had five players score in double figures, comprised of Bynum (18), Johnson (18), Bobby Howard (15), Navarre (11) and Danny Piepoli (11).

Dickson’s 22 points were the most scored by a Hornet this season as the San Francisco native went 8-of-11 from the field, 4-of-5 from the three-point line and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe while also chipping in six rebounds. Bjegovic scored 16 points with a game-high seven rebounds. They were joined in double figures by Marcial (10 points, six assists) and Justin Eller (10 points, six rebounds). Toles-Bey added seven points, six assists and four steals while Domineek Daniel also had four steals. Dickson was the only Hornet to shoot better than .500 from the field as the team finished the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-63).

Sacramento State returns to action for its final non-conference road game of the season when it travels to Missoula to take on Montana on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 3:05 p.m. PST. The game is being televised live on the Altitude Sports and Entertainment channel (DirecTV channel 681; Dish Network channel 410). In addition, the game will be aired locally on a tape delay basis on Sunday at 3 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet California (DirecTV channel 698; Dish Network channel 409).