Sacramento State men’s basketball (13-5, Big Sky Conference) fell 70-68 at Northern Arizona University (13-5, Big Sky) in the conference regular-season finale this afternoon.

Sac State can still host the Big Sky Conference Tournament from The WELL with the No. 1 seed if both University of Montana (13-4, Big Sky) and Eastern Washington University (13-4, Big Sky) lose their Saturday games. Montana will play at Montana State and Eastern Washington University will play on the road at Weber State, with both games starting at 6 p.m. PST.

Though the Hornets had a solid shooting night, making 25 of 47 (53.2 percent) field goal attempts and going eight of 15 (53.3 percent) from 3-point range, the Lumberjacks dominated on the boards, out-rebounding Sac State by a margin of 43-16. Northern Arizona shot just 23 of 55 (41.8 percent) from the field, but the rebound game gave the Lumberjacks many second-chance scoring opportunities.

Northern Arizona also bucketed 19 of 21 free throw attempts while the Hornets made 10 of 15.

The Hornets received valiant efforts from guards Mikh McKinney and Dreon Barlett.

McKinney shot six of 11 from the field and was a perfect three-for-three from behind the arc, as the senior scored 19 points—with 13 of them coming in the second half. At one point in the second half, 12 straight Sac State points came off the fingers of McKinney. He played 37 minutes.

Barlett came off the bench to deliver 11 points in just 11 minutes. The junior drained three of his four 3-point attempts.

Sac State started off strong; the team made six of 10 3-point attempts in the first half and committed just two turnovers to the Lumberjacks’ seven giveaways. The team led 28-18 at the 9:51 mark in the first half and took a 39-33 advantage into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by sophomore forward Nick Hornsby off a quick inbounds play with just 1.2 seconds on the clock.

But the Lumberjacks stormed back in the second period, tying the game at 43 and then mounting a 10-3 run to obtain a 53-46 advantage with 12:23 left in the contest. The Hornets put together an 8-0 run to take back the lead at 54-53 with the help of two NAU turnovers.

After this point, neither team led by more than four points. Sac State took a 68-64 lead off of a McKinney jumper at the 2:46 mark, but the Hornets went scoreless the rest of the way as NAU sealed the game on a layup by Kris Yanku with four seconds remaining.

Sac State will play next in the quarterfinal round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament—whose hosting site will be decided by Saturday night’s action.