The Hornets lost a thrilling game to UC Riverside, 59-58, Saturday at the Hornets Nest.

Highlanders’ guard Larry Gurganious grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss by guard Brandon Dowdy and put it up for a basket as time expired. It was Gurganious’ 10th rebound of the game, and by far the most important.

Sacramento State head coach Brian Katz said his team needs to have a short memory in situations like this.

“Time to move on,” Katz said. “You can’t think about it.”

Sac State got off to an especially slow start, scoring four points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Riverside did not fare much better, as it scored 11 points in the same period of time.

The Hornets had four players in double figures, led by junior guard Sultan Toles-Bey, who scored 13 points, six assists and two steals. It was the fourth game in a row he led Sac State in scoring. He also played a team-high 36 minutes.

Freshman swingman John Dickson scored 11 points and snagged a team-high seven rebounds.

Senior guard Antonio Flaggs added 11 points on 5-6 from the free throw line and two three point field goals and said the loss should help the team get better.

“We just take it as a learning experience,” Flaggs said. “There’s a lot of things we have to work on in close games like this. Today was just one of those bad days.”

He said the team hopes to use this as a way to ignite the team.

Senior center Justin Eller contributed 10 points on 4-5 shooting and three rebounds.

He said the loss hurt.

“It’s hard when you know that your teammates and coaches are working really hard,” Eller said.

“We fought back to get back into the game. All losses are tough, but given our effort tonight, that one was a little bit tougher.”

Sac State shot a season-high 26 free throws, making 15, which stands out in a one-point loss. The Hornets were also outrebounded 46-28.

After 10 first-half turnovers, Sac State turned it over two times in the second half, which helped them gain the lead before ultimately losing.

The Hornet defense did a good job holding Riverside’s leading scorer and rebounder Kyle Austin in check.

Austin had been averaging 15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game coming into the contest. He ended with 12 points and five rebounds. Katz said his team made improvements in the second half that allowed them to be in contention down to the buzzer.

“The second half, we cleaned it up, took good shots and made only a couple turnovers,” Katz said. “Once we got our shot selection (down), decision-making and took care of the ball, it was great.”

With the loss, the Hornets fall to 3-4 overall. They travel to UC Davis on Wednesday to play the Aggies at 7:05 p.m. before returning home Saturday to host Weber State at 7:05 p.m.