There’s no better way to end a nine-game losing streak than by blowing out a team by 34 points.

The Sacramento State men’s basketball team took down Northern Arizona University 77-43 Saturday at The Nest for its first Big Sky Conference win of the season.

Head coach Brian Katz said this win was all because of being aggressive.

“I just thought we were the most aggressive team,” Katz said. “I think usually the most aggressive team wins. (This season) we haven’t been able to sustain for 40 minutes, we’ve been able to do it for parts of games, 33 minutes of games.”

The 77 points was a season-high for the Hornets, who torched the nets shooting 49 percent from the field.

The Hornets (6-14, 1-8 Big Sky) were led by junior center Konner Veteto who had a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench.

“If we play like the way we know we can play, we’ll do fine,” Veteto said. “This is a good start for us to get back to our winning ways.”

Sophomore guard Jackson Carbajal had 18 points and four rebounds while freshman point guard Dylan Garrity had 11 points, eight assists and zero turnovers.

Katz said Garrity is playing at a level he believed he would be at from the minute he recruited him.

“Player evaluations are very hard, but I was right on Dylan Garrity,” Katz said. “He’s really got a deep inner confidence and he’s not ever rattled. To me he’s playing like a senior right now.”

The game was dominated by the Hornets, who led the game from the 17:44 mark in the first half to the final buzzer.

The Hornets first-half play was led by aggressive defense and domination of the boards after holding the Lumberjacks to only 19 points and out-rebounding them 21-10.

Going into the half, the Hornets were up 38-19, but the Lumberjacks came out of the break looking like a new team after scoring five quick points.

Katz quickly called a timeout to get his team refocused and the team responded.

The Hornets went on a 12-0 run to push the lead to 50-24.

The Hornets then continued to make shot after shot while the Lumberjacks missed shot after shot and the game became out of reach.

The Hornets dominated in the paint, outscoring the Lumberjacks 50-20, and capitalized on the Lumberjacks’ 16 turnovers by scoring 25 points. They also only turned the ball over six times and they out-rebounded the Lumberjacks 43-30, 15 of those on the offensive side.

The 34-point margin of victory was the largest for the Hornets against a Division I opponent since Sac State became a Division I program in 1991.

The Hornets will head back on the road Thursday to take on the University of Northern Colorado (6-13, 3-5) for the second time this season.

The Hornets lost the first matchup 61-53 on Jan. 7.

Carbajal said the win tonight was a huge help for the team’s morale going into Northern Colorado.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster, nice to get one back at home,” Carbajal said, “I think that’s what we needed. I think we just needed a win to get us going.”

Tip-off Thursday will be at 6:05 p.m.

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].