Without leading scorer Rickie Glenn, who sat out with an ankle injury, Sac State rolled over the visiting Montana State Bobcats, 70-62, breaking a 15-game Big Sky conference-losing streak on Wednesday night at Hornet Gym.

Ironically, the last time the Hornets picked up a Big Sky win, it came against these very Bobcats, 70-54, a season ago.

But, senior Pablo Gonzales admits that Wednesday?s win was a longtime coming.”We should have got this first win awhile ago,” said the senior swingman. “The thing is, we played as a team.”

“We?re without Rick, our leading scorer, so we had to pull together as a team and everybody had to step up,” Gonzales said. “This was the first time where everybody played 40 minutes, played good and stepped up.”

And, without Glenn, everybody needed to, especially the bench.Enter Derek Lambeth, a quiet reserve who came into the game averaging just over two points per game.

Lambeth, who?s highest output this season was eight points against Menlo, sparked the Hornets (4-16, 1-8) off the bench in the second half, fueling an 11-3 run that gave the Hornets the lead, 54-49, and the momentum with 7:51 left.

Lambeth netted seven points during the rally, including a three-pointer and a jumper on successive possessions to retake the lead, 48-46. Lambeth finished the game with 12 points, all of which came in a pivotal second half ? a half that saw the Hornets outscore the Bobcats by 12, 37-25.

According to Hornet head coach Jerome Jenkins, he?s been waiting for Lambeth to shine like this all season.

“Derek could have been doing that all year long,” Jenkins said, whose bench player sealed the victory with three points during the final 30 seconds. “He?s a sophomore and he?s just now starting to come into his own.”

Unlike their contest with Idaho State, where the Hornets opened the game 0-11 from the field and found themselves trailing 13-0 early, confidence wasn?t lost on the boys of green and white.

And, Jenkins made sure of that.

“We don?t have Rickie Glenn right now, he?s hurt,” Jenkins said. “But, the bottom line is, we?re a basketball team.

” I told them ?you call yourselves basketball players, well than go out there and make it happen. Don?t worry about who?s not with us,?” he said. “And, that?s what we did tonight.”

Although the Bobcats (14-9, 6-4) entered Hornet Gym as Division I?s best three-point shooting team, it was the Hornets who came out stroking from downtown early and often. As a team, the Hornets shot 6-13 from behind the arc in the first half.

Jay Richardson, a junior college transfer, gave the Hornets an early 9-4 advantage connecting on two three-pointers, while floor general Rame Batta also drilled two three-pointers. 1 of Batta’s was a deep jumper with 4:30 left in the half, knotting the score at 28-28.

“Rame?s play was big tonight,” Jenkins said. “I didn?t know how good he would play tonight, because he didn?t have a very good practice.

“I was on him a little bit in practice yesterday. But, I wanted him to play big tonight and he played big.”

Batta led the Hornets with 19 points, including 12 in the first half, while Gonzales contributed 16 towards the cause. Trench warrior Arinze Anoruo battled for 13 points and six rebounds.