Jameel Pugh had a decision to make.

All alone down court with 11 seconds remaining and a nine-point lead over visiting Eastern Washington, Sacramento State’s premier dunker wasn’t thinking about whether or not he should dunk, but rather what dunk out of his repertoire he’d perform.

“I was thinking, ‘What dunk do I want to do? Do I have enough energy to do it?'” Pugh said.

Pugh opted to attempt one of his favorites. “I grabbed it with my right hand, and then put my elbow in,” Pugh said of his elbow-in-the-rim dunk attempt. “It was kind of like a grab-the-rim elbow.”

The Hornets would go on to win 83-72 over the Eagles behind Jason Harris’ 25 points and Pugh’s 24. With the win, the Hornets (8-13, 4-4) have now won seven consecutive home games and five of their last seven overall.

The Hornets move into a fourth place tie with Eastern (7-14, 4-4) in the Big Sky Conference standings. The top six teams advance to the conference tournament.

“We realize the mission is not complete,” Sac State coach Jerome Jenkins said. “A win against Portland State would complete the mission, and then we’ll come up with a new mission.”

The Hornets, in control for most of the game, held the lead for the game’s final 27 minutes. The Hornets shot only 36 percent in the second half, but connected on 19-of-21 second-half free throws to hold on.

In addition to his game-high in points, Harris had five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Pugh’s total included five 3-pointers and nine rebounds.

“Jameel is the man, I am just trying to follow him,” Harris said. “It’s his year; I’m just trying to help.”

Early in the second half, Pugh leaped from a crowd of players in the key, grabbed the ball with one hand, but missed a powerful put-back dunk attempt. The ball flew off the rim, high towards the lights above the court. Despite the dunk-attempt missing, the crowd stayed abuzz for nearly a minute.

DaShawn Freeman added 14 points — including 9-of-10 from the line — in a limited 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

Marc Axton led Eastern with 15 points, while center Matt Nelson had 13 points and five assists.

Both teams shot well from behind the arc. The Hornets shot 47 percent (8-of-17), while Eastern shot 50 percent (6-of-12).

When the Hornets faced the Eagles earlier this season, they lost 44-41. Tonight, the Hornets led 44-38 at halftime.

Freshman Schuyler McKay came off the bench and played a key role for the Hornets in the second half, when he scored all seven of his points.

The Hornets have won a school-record eight-straight Big Sky regular season home games.

Eastern head coach Mike Burns stormed onto the court following Pugh’s elbow-in-the-rim dunk attempt, complaining to officials that a technical foul should have been called. Both Burns and Jenkins discussed the situation and shook hands at midcourt.

“(Burns) thought it was classless and I agree with him,” Pugh said. “I regret doing it. I did apologize to him and let him know it wasn’t any intentional disrespect to him and it won’t happen again.

“The excitement runs through your mind so quickly and it happens so fast.”

Pugh said Jenkins hadn’t mentioned the play to him.

In the Hornets’ loss to Eastern earlier in the season, the Eagles ended the game with a last-second dunk — the same way Pugh ended the game tonight.

“It wasn’t something done intentionally to spite them,” Pugh said about his dunk. “But they did do it to us and it was something we remembered and we wanted to show that we remembered that.”

The Hornets will conclude their four-game homestand at 7 p.m. Saturday against Portland State.