DAVIS – It has been no secret that Sacramento State junior shooting guard Mikh McKinney has struggled playing on the road. 

Since arriving at Sac State, McKinney has shot 34 percent from the field, but in his very first game at UC Davis – things changed. 

“This boosts my confidence, definitely,” McKinney said. “It was just nice to come back and have a good performance.”

McKinney’s 25 points and a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line helped the Hornets seek some revenge in the Causeway rivalry with a 73-67 victory against UC Davis in front of 2,465 people in attendance. 

But Sac State head coach Brian Katz said this was just another game on the schedule.

“Whatever is the next game on the schedule is a big game,” Katz said. “If you have to find a reason to get motivated to play this game, you are playing the wrong game.”

The Hornets found itself down nine after six minutes of play before sophomore guard Cody Demps scored on a jump shot cutting the Aggies’ lead to 15-8.

Davis increased its lead to 10 points with nine minutes remaining in the half, but the Hornets countered on a 20-11 run that included 13 points from McKinney to bring the Hornets within one at 31-30.

He finished the half shooting 75 percent, including three 3-pointers, one of which came at the buzzer. 

“I really liked how we rebounded from a rocky start,” Katz said. “You can get down on yourself and one problem leads to another, but I thought we got ourselves together and got back in the game.”

In the second half, Sac State utilized its bench with the trio of senior forward Jordan Salley, junior forward Zach Mills and sophomore guard Dreon Barlett.

Salley emerged as an inside presence last season on March 2 against Idaho State, where he had 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. In 30 minutes against Davis, he scored 11 points and two rebounds. 

“Coach just told me to be aggressive,” Salley said. “I’ve been waiting to be that inside presence and do the things I’m capable of doing.”

Before the game, Mills was averaging 11 minutes per game, but scored a career-high 11 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes. 

With the game tied at 50-50 with 7:55 left in the game, Barlett hit back-to-back 3-pointers, giving the Hornets its biggest lead of the game.

The combination of Salley, Mills and Barlett finished with 27 points and was 5-6 from 3-point range.

“They were better shooters than everybody else and that was their role,” Katz said.

Davis tried to cut into the lead by fouling to stop the clock in the final minute, but the Hornets held on as it made 10 free-throws in the last 28 seconds to close out the Aggies. 

Sac State returns home Saturday to face its second straight Big West Conference opponent, UC Irvine. 

Irvine comes in with a 4-3 record that includes a win against the University of Washington.

“Just like coach prepared us for this game, we need to prepare for next game,” McKinney said. 

Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m.

Ryan can be reached on Twitter at @rskuhn