It’s the end of the 2003-04 season men’s basketball season. It’s the end of six seniors’ collegiate careers. It’s the end of another record-breaking year.

But for the program, Sacramento State’s 68-62 playoff loss to Weber State is oddly just the beginning.

“I’m happy we got this far,” senior Joseth Dawson said. “Whoever thought we’d be hosting a playoff game in front of a sellout crowd. We’re just building the foundation, especially the seniors. We don’t have a reason to hang our heads down.”

Four years ago head coach Jerome Jenkins took over a Division I program that had never been to the playoffs, had never won a conference game on the road, had never posted a double-digit win season.

“No one gave me a chance to turn this around,” Jenkins said “Everyone thought (then athletic director) Debby Colberg was crazy for hiring me. I’m coaching for a lot of reasons – for the university, for the pride of Sacramento and for the people who had confidence in me and gave me this job so I could help this program grow and go to the next level.”

Whoever thought that Sac State would be hosting a playoff game after posting a Division I program best 13-14 overall record and 7-7 conference record. Whoever thought Sac State would have scalpers patrolling the front of Yosemite Hall asking if anybody needed tickets to a sold out game.

Whoever thought with 39 seconds left in a game where they trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half, they’d be just two points shy of tying the score.

But for the second year in a row, Weber State, the defending Big Sky champs, knocked the Hornets out of the Big Sky tournament.

“I thought we had some motivation for coming back here,” Wildcat coach Joe Cravens said referring to his team’s 64-61 regular season loss in Sacramento on Feb. 19. “I’d like to thank all those knuckleheads out in the parking lot for all the catcalls. It helped us having another chip on our shoulder.”

The knuckleheads were part of a crowd of 1,100 that stood for much of the second half, stomped its feet and cheered like no game before at the Hornets’ Nest.

“I was so tired out there,” Jones said, after leading his team with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and two breakaway dunks. “The crowd just kept me going.”

Jones first treated the crowd with a steal that ended with a thunderous two-handed slam and then quickly found rim again with a one handed slam off an outlet pass from Dawson. Within the span of 30 seconds he brought Sac State to within four points, 44-40, with just over ten minutes remaining.

The Hornets played aggressive defensively for the full 40 minutes — forcing the Wildcats into 19 turnovers. But Sac State failed to convert those possessions into points.

They dove to the floor in pursuit of loose balls, outrebounded a team with 6-foot-8 Slobodan Ocokoljic and 6-foot-10 Lance Allred lingering under the hoop and ignited the crowd with breakaway dunks from Jones and Jameel Pugh.

But a 43-second stretch with less than seven minutes left signified the entire game. With the crowd on its feet, E.J. Harris harassed Weber State guards John Hamilton and Brett Cox. He created steals and forced turnovers with his flailing arms and smart positioning, but every time Sac State gained a new possession, the Hornets would give it right back.

“It was anybody’s game,” Jones said. “We didn’t underestimate them at all. We just didn’t capitalize on possessions. We forced them to turn the ball over like three-straight times and we just missed the shot or tuned the ball over.

“We know we didn’t give them our best punch. We kind of chose the wrong time to act like this. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.”

The Hornets shot 31.7 percent from the floor, while the Wildcats shot 52.3 percent, led by Ocokoljic, who finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. Lance Allred, Ocokoljic’s partner in the paint, had a double-double with ten points and 11 rebounds.

But it was easy for the Wildcats to rebound well.

Shot after shot clanked off the iron for the Hornets. Even layups seemed to pop in and out or roll off the rim as if the ball was somehow frightened of the net.

In comparison to Sac State’s last regular season home game on Feb. 21 against Idaho State, where the Hornets set a record for 17-made 3-pointers, in Saturday’s loss Sac State shot only 6-of-26 from beyond the 3-point line.

The Big Sky’s 3-point leader, Brandon Guyton, nailed his first 3-pointer with just a minute gone in the game, but missed his final six attempts.

Dawson, who was named to Big Sky All-Conference team last Thursday, finished with 15 points and made the 3-pointer that brought the score to 62-60 with 39 seconds left. After Weber State’s Nic Sparrow added two free throws Dawson then missed a 3-point attempt with the arm of Jamaal Jenkins hovering over his face.

Cedric Thompkins, who saw limited time because of foul trouble, scored seven points and pulled down 11 boards for Sac State.

The Wildcats made the last minute of the game interesting by missing free throws and giving up a dunk to Pugh, a layup to Jones and a 3-pointer to Dawson. But missed shots the 39 minutes before the final 60 seconds already had the game decided.

“We started a tradition here,” Jones said of this team’s success. “Everybody’s work ethic paid off. I’m just happy I came here. I’ve built lifelong relationships with everybody out here. We started a tradition here. I know we lost but I’m really not disappointed. This is a time for celebration because we did a lot of things that we never accomplished before.”