The Sacramento State men’s basketball team kicked off its 2009-10 season at the Rice Basketball Challenge in Houston, Texas over the weekend.

The Hornets finished the four-team tournament in third place with an overall record of 1-2. The host of the tournament, Rice, won the Challenge with a 3-0 record. South Alabama (2-1) finished in second and Houston Baptist (0-3) finished last.

The season did not begin on a good note for head coach Brian Katz’ squad.

In the first game of the tournament Rice led off the game on a 13-0 run.

Sac State missed its first 10 shot attempts of the game.

The Hornets cut the Owls’ lead to 19-13 with 7:21 remaining in the first half but this was as close as the game would get.

Rice went on an 11-0 run in the second half that sealed Sac State’s fate as the Owls rolled to an 81-51 victory.

The Hornets played much better against Houston Baptist.

Sac State has already won half as many games this season as it did all of 2008-09 with its 70-60 win over the Huskies.

Sac State had help from both its veteran players and freshmen.

Senior forward Michael Seling led all scorers with a career-high 17 points and freshman forward John Dickson added 10 points in the victory. The Hornets took a 7-6 lead with 15:14 remaining in the first half and did not look back.

With the help of senior guar Domineek Daniel’s 15 points Sac State had a 12-point lead at one point. The Hornets never trailed in the second half.

The victory was Sac State’s first road win since Dec. 30, 2006 against Northern Colorado.

Sac State’s winning momentum did not last for long. The Hornets lost the third and final game of the Challenge against South Alabama 70-58.

Sac State held its own in the beginning of the game as the Hornets led 27-13 with 2:30 remaining until halftime. The Jaguars then went on a 28-9 run in which the Hornets were never able to recover from.

South Alabama shot 14 of 21 (66.7 percent) from the field in the second half while Sac State had trouble finding the hoop.

Daniel, Dickson, senior captain Antonio Flaggs and guard Sultan Toles-Bey all scored 10 points in defeat.

Dickson was named to the all-tournament team. He averaged 11.3 points, two rebounds and two blocks in the three games.

Sac State’s home opener is Wednesday night. The Hornets will look to reach the .500 marc, as the Hornets will take on the Bethany University Bruins at 7:05 p.m.