In his time at Sacramento State, Duro Bjegovic of the men’s basketball team has become a significant contributor for the Hornets with the skills he brings to the court.

“He’s a very skilled offensive player,” said head coach Brian Katz. “He can shoot the three, put it on the floor, post up, and he’s definitely a match-up problem for the opposition.”

After joining the team in his junior year, Bjegovic has been a solid offensive option because of his versatile style of play, Katz said.

In the 2009-10 season, Bjegovic was able to average 7.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game &- shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 46.8 percent from the 3-point line.

Bjegovic’s three-point percentage last season was the best on the team, and also allowed him to hold the best single-season 3-point percentage in Sac State’s Division 1 history.

He also put together double figures games in 10 of the last 15 games last season. During those 15 games, Bjegovic averaged 9.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 51.9 percent from the field and a staggering 53.1 percent from the three-point line.

“I played really good on the road towards the end of last season. These people didn’t know I could shoot ’cause I’m a big guy so I had to a lot of open shots,” Bjegovic said. “This year, people know I can shoot so they key in on me, double me, so it’s hard to get shots off.”

In Sac State’s previous two games against Weber State and Northern Arizona, Bjegovic was able to lead his team in points after failing to shoot on a more consistent basis throughout the season.

“I tried to stay positive,” Bjegovic said. “I got into a slump, so I just tried to get out of it. In the last two games, it was better and my shot was falling.”

In their time with playing with Bjegovic, some of the players on the team have come to admire his ability to score the basketball.

“He’s a good player inside, outside, he can shoot, dribble, pass,” said senior guard Sultan Toles-Bey. “He can do it all.”

Freshman guard Jackson Carbajal even noticed something about Bjegovic that he wishes he could incorporate into his game.

“Duro is a great shooter,” Carbajal said. “Every time he gets the ball inside, he gets it, then bangs and bangs against the dude and he scores every time. I don’t know how he does it.”

After living in Drnis, Croatia, for most of his life, Bjegovic, the 23-year-old senior forward, moved to the United States in 2006 and has been playing basketball since he was 8 years old.

“I actually played soccer first &- like all of the European kids,” Bjegovic said. “But then winter came and it was snowy, so I just kind of quit and started going to the gym.”

He never would have played basketball if it was not for his mother.

“My mom actually signed me up for it,” Bjegovic said. “I went to a couple of practices, I liked it, and I just kept going.”

In his time with Sac State, Bjegovic has been in the top five in minutes logged and has also worked on his defense to better contribute to the team, Katz said. Bjegovic has also been a go-to guy on the offensive side of the basketball in late game situations.

“He’s a guy that our guys can count on to score baskets because they know he can score, and because of that, when the game matters, our guys look for him a little bit,” Katz said.

Bjegovic added that whenever he is on the court, his main focus is to help team in any way that he can so they can come out with the win.

“I just try to rebound, play defense, do hustle plays and whatever coach asks of me,” Bjegovic said.

Bjegovic’s presence and leadership on the court is something that the Hornets are going to lack after his departure from the team this season.

Without Bjegovic’s contributions on both ends of the floor next season, Carbajal said: “We’re definitely going to miss him.”

You can reach Anthony Honrade at [email protected]