For Sacramento State’s first Big Sky Conference matchup at home this season, it wasn’t how it ended, but how it started.

The Hornets gave up five turnovers in the opening four minutes that head coach Brian Katz attributed to his team’s 68-64 overtime loss to Portland State Thursday night at The Nest.

“It wasn’t anything (Portland State) did; it was missed layups and dropped passes” Katz said. “This game was disappointing.”

After Sac State junior forward Zach Mills was taken out of the game because of early foul trouble along with teammate Alex Tiffin who was taken out because of what Katz said was his gut feeling, the Hornets responded by taking a 10-8 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half.

With Mills and Tiffin on the bench, the front court of seniors Jordan Salley and Joey Quigley and freshman Eric Stuteville helped extend the lead to as much as eight points as they combined to finish with 25 points and 13 rebounds. 

However, Portland State responded as it scored a pair of baskets by junior guards DeShaun Wiggins and Tim Douglas in the final 1:31 of the first half.

Although Sac State held a 3-point lead going into halftime, the Vikings started the second half outscoring the Hornets 10-4 that led to their first lead of the game when junior guard Gary Winston hit a 3-pointer from the wing.

Portland State held onto its lead for most of the second half until sophomore Cody Demps tied the game with 3.6 seconds on a baseline jump shot to send the game into overtime.

“It was a set play and the defense was helping on my teammates, so they left me open,” Demps said.

During overtime, the Vikings pulled away when Winston hit a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key with 42 seconds left that the Hornets could not come back from.

The game also saw the program’s streak of 561 consecutive games with at least one made 3-pointer snapped as the team finished 0-14 from behind the arc.

“It’s a big part of our game, because we have some good shooters,” Demps said. “It hurt us, but there were other reasons we didn’t win that game.”

Sac State drops to 5-9 and 1-4 in Big Sky play, making it the eighth straight year the Hornets have a losing record in its first five conference games. The 2005-06 team started 4-1.

“We are definitely frustrated, but not to the point where it will carry over to the next game,” McKinney said. 

Despite the early conference season struggles, Katz said there is plenty of time to turn things around as the team plays five out of the next seven games at The Nest.

“I”m not concerned at this point,” Katz said. “We are a work in progress and there is not a game we cannot win.”

The Hornets return to the court on Saturday night when they face Eastern Washington. 

Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m.

Ryan can be reached on Twitter at @rskuhn