When Derek Lambeth decided four years ago to bring his large frame and considerable game to the perennially struggling Sacramento State basketball team, everyone he talked to had just one question.-

“For God’s sake, why?”

“I’m a determined person, and my number one goal was always to get this team to the playoffs,” said the 6-foot-5 Lambeth, the only fourth-year senior on the Hornets’ roster. “Everything after that would be cream for me.”-

Make way for the cream.

After Lambeth’s sterling performance Saturday night sparked the Hornets to a 72-52 victory over Montana State, Sac State is headed to the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the first time in school history.-

In a win-or-go-home game for both teams, Lambeth jump-started the second-half surge that clinched the No. 6 playoff spot, scoring 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor (including a perfect 5-of-5 on 3-pointers) in the game’s final 20 minutes.-

During one three-minute stretch, Lambeth alone outscored the Bobcats 11-2.-

“We wouldn’t have won a lot of games this year without Derek Lambeth,” head coach Jerome Jenkins said following Saturday’s victory. “He refused to let us lose tonight.”-

Lambeth leads his team both on the stat sheet and in the locker room (he ranks first in points, second in minutes and third in rebounds). He even delivered the halftime speech Saturday when the Hornets were down by five at the break.-

“With Derek, it’s sometimes like having a coach out on the floor,” Jenkins said.-

Lambeth’s progress since arriving in Sacramento has been phenomenal, especially considering he’s had to fundamentally change his game. At Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, Lambeth played forward and center, but the Hornets asked him to learn the guard position.-

“The hardest thing for me to pick up was my defense,” Lambeth said. “I could always handle the ball, but I had to work on my jump shot and defense, and that’s what I did every year.”-

Jenkins applauds Lambeth’s tireless work ethic. “He had no jump shot when he first arrived,” Jenkins said. “But he’s worked tremendously hard in the off-season to better his game, and he has an unbelievable amount of confidence in himself.”-

Lambeth credits his North Oakland upbringing for supplying him with intensity and toughness. “It’s just a gritty game out there, and the style is so rough,” Lambeth said. “Nobody wants to lose, nobody wants to back down.”-

Lambeth is already a steady hand at dealing with the media. The only question he stumbled on was when asked which NBA players he’d like to emulate.-

Lambeth likes Chris Webber’s versatility, although he thinks he has better range than the all-star forward. Then again, he also appreciates old-school Kevin McHale, because “he had a ton of moves.”-

However, Lambeth also empathizes with gritty scrappers like Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest. “Until this year, it was never upon me to be the scorer, so I was always the energy type, the hustler,” Lambeth said.-

Although Lambeth’s Sac State basketball career is ending, Saturday’s victory marked the beginning of an era for the Hornet program. With its promising young players, Sac State could be a fixture in the Big Sky Tournament for years to come.-

But Lambeth has no regrets about finishing his college career just as the program is gaining momentum.

“Ten years from now, if they’re balling in the Final Four, I’ll just take pride in being a Sac State alum,” he said.-

After the season ends, Lambeth will concentrate on getting his degree. “I’ll make a few calls and stay in shape and see where I can go with basketball,” Lambeth said. “But the main goal is to get my degree since the NBA’s not calling.”-

Saturday night, Lambeth looked as NBA-ready as any college player. He even found a definitive answer to the question he had stumbled on earlier.-

“Michael Jordan,” Lambeth said. –

“Obviously, everyone wants to play like Jordan, but I want to be the older, wiser Jordan. The one who could beat you in a ton of ways.”

-Normally, any basketball player comparing himself to Jordan would be committing an act of hubris on the scale of Greek tragedy.-

But for one brilliant night at the Hornets’ Nest, in front of 1,468 witnesses to Sac State history, Derek Lambeth made it seem like a perfectly reasonable comparison.

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