Sacramento State’s men’s basketball team snapped a 15-game losing streak to Eastern Washington University with a 75-71 victory Saturday evening in a Big Sky Conference showdown at Reese Court.

The victory marks the second straight road win for the Hornets after losing the previous seven on the road.

Sacramento State was led by the combined 41 points scored by guard Joe Eberhard (21) and forward John Dickson (20).

With this win, the Hornets (8-14, 3-8) move within two games back of both Portland State and Eastern Washington University in Big Sky Conference standings.

The Hornets have five games remaining on their schedule. Three of those games are at home.

Sacramento State went into halftime with a 40-21 lead over Eastern Washington University after Eberhard buried a 3-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded.

As a team, the Hornets shot a combined 6-for-12 from 3-point territory and committed only three turnovers in the first half. Head coach Brian Katz said it was the best half offensively the Hornets have played all year.

“We were very physical defensively today as well,” Katz said. “They’re a high- scoring team and to hold them at 21 points for the first half was big.”

Eastern Washington University would battle back strong in the second half, but would never take the lead at any point in the game. The Hornets led by double figures throughout most of the game until an 11-0 run by Eastern Washington cut the lead down to 57-50 with four minutes remaining.

The Eagles run finally ended on a Dickson jump shot with 3:33 to play. The Hornets went on to lead by 11 2:22 left.

“We got a little conservative in the second half,” Katz said. “But (we) definitely held on to the lead down the stretch (by) making key free throws.”

Senior guard Heath Hoffman, who had six points, scored the two big free throws with eight seconds to play. Freshman guard Dylan Garrity had another strong performance with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Hornets won Saturday night’s game despite being outscored by the Eagles in the paint (32-30), points off turnovers (12-10) and second-chance points (21-10).

Senior guard Cliff Colimon had a game-high 25 points for Eastern Washington University, which outscored Sacramento State in the second half, 50-35. Senior guard Cliff Ederaine added 15 points and 18 rebounds.

Sacramento State finished the game shooting 46.7 percent (21-45) from the field, 45.0 percent (9-20) from the three-point line and 64.9 percent (24-37) from the free throw line.

The Hornets will face Montana State Thursday in a conference game at home.

Gabriel Pacheco can be reached at [email protected].