Sacramento State men’s basketball held its ground with Northern Colorado, but in the end could not upset the Big Sky Conference leader Saturday night.

The Hornets managed to keep the game within six points until the final 10 minutes of the game where Northern Colorado went on a 13-5 run, leading to a 72-62 loss.

Sac State is now 6-11 (2-6) and is second to last in the Big Sky; Southern Utah sits at the bottom still winless in conference play.

Junior point guard Dylan Garrity started the game strong as he scored the first eight points that included a pair of 3-pointers to give his team an 8-6 lead.

From there, the Hornets got in foul trouble throughout the game as Northern Colorado shot 19 more free throws and making 84 percent of its attempts.

Despite the foul trouble that included junior guard Mikh McKinney only playing nine minutes due to picking up his third foul, Sac State went into halftime trailing 37-34.

In the second half, the foul trouble continued as the Bears made 16-18 second half free throws to extend their lead and win the game.

Sophomore guard Cody Demps and McKinney finished with a team-high 16 points while Garrity finished with 14 points. This was the first time in 11 games that Demps scored more than 10 points. The last time was Nov. 30 against UC Irvine.

Sac State returns home for a 4-game home stand that starts with Idaho State Thursday night. The Hornets have played six of their first eight games on the road which is most in the Big Sky.

Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m.