John Dickson posted team highs in points (15), rebounds (9) and blocked shots (2)
OGDEN, Utah -- Weber State’s Lindsey Hughey scored a game-high 27 points and the Wildcats shot 54.4 percent (31-57) from the field on the way to an 84-71 victory over Sacramento State in a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game Thursday evening at the Dee Events Center.
After entering halftime with a 42-32 lead, Weber State opened the second half on a 19-8 run spanning more than six minutes of clock. The run was capped by a pair of free throws by Kyle Bullinger and gave Weber State a 21-point lead (61-40) with 13:34 remaining. During the run, five different Weber State players scored, including Byron Fulton who hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. The Hornets would get no closer than within 12 points of the Wildcat lead the rest of the way. Sacramento State’s final lead of the night came at 4-2 early in the first half after a Josh McCarver dunk.
Weber State was on fire all evening, shooting 62.1 percent (18-29) from the field in the first half and 46.4 percent (13-28) in the second half. Seven different Wildcat players shot at least 50 percent from the floor, and the team’s overall field goal percentage (.544) was the second-highest output by a Hornet opponent this year.
The Wildcats, who shot 78.9 percent (15-19) from the free throw line, also outscored Sacramento State in points in the paint (28-14) and points off turnovers (16-6). The Hornets committed a season-low nine turnovers, but the Wildcats were able to score off nearly every Sacramento State miscue.
The Hornets finished the game shooting 39.1 percent (25-64) from the field, 38.5 percent (10-26) from the three-point line and a season-best 91.7 percent (11-12) from the free throw line. Sacramento State was outrebounded by a 36-32 margin, but was able to score 15 points off of 13 offensive rebounds.
With the loss, the Hornets dropped their seventh straight game while falling to 3-13 overall and 0-5 in the Big Sky. During the team’s losing streak, five of those games have been on the road, three were lost in overtime, and one more was lost in regulation by two points.
Weber State (8-7, 2-2), which was playing its first Big Sky game at home, improved to 30-4 all-time against Sacramento State. That includes a 17-1 mark when playing the Hornets in Ogden.
Hughey scored 15 of his 27 points in the first half, and finished the game 9-of-15 from the field, 3-of-7 from the three-point line and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. He scored 10 points more than any other player on the floor, and added four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Joining Hughey in double figures for Weber State were Fulton (17 points, seven rebounds), Kyle Bullinger (15 points, game-high nine rebounds) and Trevor Morris (15 points, five rebounds). Those four players combined to score 74 of the Wildcats’ 84 points, and grabbed 25 of the team’s 36 rebounds.
For Sacramento State, sophomore John Dickson posted team highs in points (15), rebounds (8) and blocked shots (2). The San Francisco native has now led the team in scoring in three of the last four games, and paces the Hornets with an average of 13.8 points per game against conference competition.
Senior Sultan Toles-Bey (10 points, five assists, no turnovers and two steals in a game-high 37 minutes) and junior Walter Jackson (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Hornets. Jackson is now averaging 8.3 points over the last four games after averaging just 3.0 points through his first 10 games of the season. Senior Duro Bjegovic added eight points and seven rebounds, but shot just 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from the three-point line. Freshman Jackson Carbajal and junior Heath Hoffman also scored eight points.
Sacramento State head coach Brian Katz used a starting lineup that consisted of Toles-Bey and Jackson at guards, Bjegovic and Dickson at forwards and McCarver at center for the first time all season. The Hornets have now used 13 different starting lineups through the first 16 games of the year.
Sacramento State returns to action this Saturday when the team travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a matchup with Northern Arizona. The two teams will tip off at 5:35 p.m. PST. The game will be televised on the Universityhouse channel (Dish Network 9411) and via free video stream at www.bigskytv.org.
