For Derek Lambeth, Saturday’s 63-45 loss to the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks was unlike any of the other 72 defeats he’s suffered through while on Sacramento State’s men’s basketball team.

This one took a severe cut into the senior’s final push for a berth in the Big Sky Conference Tournament, which takes the top-six teams. The Hornets (8-13 overall, 2-6 in Big Sky), who came into Saturday’s game in a sixth-place tie with the Lumberjacks (12-9, 3-5), now sit alone in seventh place with six games remaining.

Lambeth knows that do-or-die time has arrived, and he is not ready to graduate without experiencing post-season action. “Can’t do it,” he said. “Can’t do it. Can’t do it. I got to get into the playoffs.”

The 6-foot-5 small forward knows in order to reach that goal, he must get his teammates on the same page.

“We got to be able to see the goal,” Lambeth said. “And it’s right there in front of us.”

The Hornets shut out Northern Arizona over the first six minutes on Saturday, but could only generate a 4-0 lead. The Lumberjacks followed with an 18-2 run to take a 18-6 lead that they would never look back from.

Down 13 points with 13 seconds remaining in the opening half, Hornet guard Brandon Guyton knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing to cut the halftime deficit to 29-19.

Sac State went on a 10-2 run to open up the second half and close the Lumberjack lead to 31-29. But in the end, Northern Arizona forward Stephen Garnett, who scored all of his 13 points in the second half, proved to be too much for Sac State, who has now lost five-straight games at Hornet Gym.

“We need to be as hungry as we are at home as we are on the road,” freshman forward Chris Lange said. “Because it seems like whenever we go on the road we’re the underdog and we want to prove somebody wrong, but for some reason we get comfortable when we’re at home.”

When the Hornets met Northern Arizona on Jan. 11 in Flagstaff, Ariz., they shot 45.1 percent from the field and defeated the Lumberjacks in double overtime, 85-81.

“We just really wanted to concentrate on taking care of the ball better,” said Lumberjack forward Kelly Golob about his team’s new-and-improved gameplan. “We gave them too many easy baskets in the first game, and a lot of it was off turnovers.”

Sac State shot 25.9 percent from the field on Saturday, turned the ball over 23 times and were forced to play most of the second half without starting point guard DaShawn Freeman, who was in foul trouble.

“I’m trying to get the guys to just calm down, because it’s going to be all right,” Hornet head coach Jerome Jenkins said. “It’s a long game. Our maturity level tonight really hurt us. My little freshman DaShawn Freeman, I mean the man darn near fouled out in the first two seconds of the game.”

Freeman fouled out with just under four minutes remaining in the game. He has now fouled out of three games this season, while finishing eight games with four fouls.

The Hornets will next host Eastern Washington (15-8, 7-2) on Thursday at 7:05 in Hornet Gym. They will then host Portland State (4-18, 2-7) at the same time on Saturday.

Eastern Washington is led by point guard Alvin Snow, a defensive specialist who averages 13.5 points and 3.8 assists.

Portland State is led by small forward Jeb Ivey, who averages 15.2 points.

“The (Big Sky Tournament) race is not over,” Jenkins said. “We’ve just got to win some games — bottom line.”