A record-breaking season has come and gone for Sacramento State men’s basketball and now the focus shifts on reloading for next season.

The Hornets will replace four of its top five leading scorers from a team that hosted a playoff game for the first time in school history and won a program-high seven conference games and 13 overall.

“The program has to keep moving on, nobody is bigger than the program,” coach Jerome Jenkins said. “It is time for new Hornets to step up now.”

Key returning players next season will be point guards DaShawn Freeman, E.J. Harris and James Payne along with guard Jameel Pugh and forwards Alex Bausley and Chris Lange.

Senior Joseth Dawson was the team’s leading scorer this season finishing fourth in conference averaging 16.4 points per game and becoming only the second player in program history to be named to the all-Big Sky first team.

Joel Jones received a Big Sky honorable mention averaging 12.3 points per game. Brandon Guyton finished the year scoring a career-high 78 3-pointers, while Cedric Thompkins finished second in conference with 2.86 offensive rebounds per game.

New players will be asked to fill the roles of the departing seniors. Additions to the team include redshirt freshman Jason Gilzene and Mark Schmidt. The 6-foot-9 Schmidt suffered a torn ACL while playing for Yuba College during the 2002-03 season and still has three years of eligibility left.

“(Mark) blocks a tremendous amount of shots,” Jenkins said. “That’s the one thing he showed us in practice. The bigs really had to learn how to get their shot off around the basket because he will block it. That will be a good element to add to the program next year — something that we’ve really never had.”

The coaching staff is currently recruiting players to fill the roles of its six departing seniors. The Hornets have signed 6-foot-4 Jason Harris from Chaffey Junior College in Rancho Cucamonga where he averaged 18.9 points per game and shot 52 percent from the floor last season.

Recruiting has not been entirely smooth. Jenkins acknowledges that he has lost out on three recruits to Boise State, Nevada, and UC Irvine. The Hornets defeated Irvine this season, but facilities may have played a part in the recruits’ decisions.

“(Recruits) are not going to come out and say it,” Jenkins said. “(Facilities) go a long way in recruits’ eyes. It’s not going to make them a better basketball player but I have to be a little understanding to it. I know recruiters hold it against us and say ‘you don’t want to go play there. That is a high school gym.’ That’s been said 1,000 times.”

Sac State will have to recover from losing its top three shooters and improve its post play which at times this season, with the exception of Thompkins, struggled in the half court offense.

Two players expected to fill those roles will be Freeman and Lange, respectively.

“DaShawn is already talking about ‘coach I am a three-point shooter,'” Jenkins said. “But it is all about players making plays. DaShawn isn’t a baby anymore. He’s definitely going to have to step up and take a few more shots.”

Sac State finished first in the Big Sky averaging 8.14 steals per game and defense will also be a focus of next year’s team.

“We may not average as many points next year, but we want to hold our opponents scoring average down,” Jenkins said. “I think that is one thing that we are really looking for in recruiting is guys that can really defend in the half court.”

Although the schedule for next season has not been released, the Hornets will open their season on the road against the University of Michigan and will also face the University Minnesota on the road.