Hornets show defense-first mentality in exhibition against Menlo

State Hornet Staff

Sacramento State men’s basketball head coach Brian Katz believes if his team wants to be a good, they cannot depend on outscoring the opposition.

“The key is to know you have to defend,” Katz said. Your defense has to be solid no matter what.”

The Hornets portrayed their defensive prowess during an exhibition game Friday against Menlo College at The Nest and holding the Oaks to 34 percent shooting from the field.

After Menlo took a 23-18 lead with 8:14 left in the first half, Sac State outscored the Oaks by 28 points during the remainder of the game to win, 79-56.

Junior shooting guard Mikh McKinney led all scorers with 22 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.

This season McKinney said he looks to become more of a leader in the backcourt with fellow junior and point guard Dylan Garrity.

“As a leader I just have to step up,” McKinney said.

After regaining the lead from Menlo, the Hornets finished the first half on a 20-6 run that included scores from freshmen Eric Stuteville and Nick Hornsby. 

“I was a little nervous in the first half, but I had a lot of support from my teammates,” Hornsby said, who finished with six points and seven rebounds. 

After halftime, the Hornets pulled away as McKinney converted two 3-point conversions and kept using the size advantage of their forwards and centers. 

By the end, Sac State outscored Menlo 44-12 in the key and out rebounded the opposition by 13. 

Garrity also finished with 12 points, four assists and four rebounds, but Katz said he wanted to see him shoot the ball more.

“He needed to take more shots and I told him that during halftime,” Katz said. “When I look at the stat sheet, he and Mikh should have the first and second amount of shots on the team,”

Sac State returns to the next Nov. 8 during the season opener when it faces UC Santa Cruz. Tipoff is at 7:35 p.m.

 

Ryan can be reached on Twitter at @rskuhn