The Sacramento State men’s basketball team hasn’t forgotten about losing to Montana in last year’s Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal; it helped fuel them to a 92-83 win over the Grizzlies on Saturday.

Just ask senior forward Nick Hornsby — who posted a team-high 25 points (7-9 FG, 4-5 3FG) and a 7-of-8 conversion rate at the free throw line to go along with six rebounds — how important the conference victory was for the Hornets at the Nest.

“We prepared like always, but we followed the game plan the whole time, we worked hard, we were aggressive,” Hornsby said. “Everybody attacked the basket, played great defense (and) we came out with the mindset that they were the ones who beat us last year so it was something that everybody was angry about ‘til this day.”

That anger and aggression helped lead Sac State (6-12, 3-4 Big Sky) to season highs in points scored (92), assists (22) and 3-pointers (nine) over a Montana (10-11, 5-3 Big Sky) squad that had previously won seven of its last nine games.

Although both teams returned four of its five starters from last year, it was the Hornets’ core four of Hornsby, junior guard Marcus Graves (18 points, 13 assists), junior forward Justin Strings (14 points, five rebounds) and senior Eric Stuteville (18 points, five rebounds) — all of which finished to shoot a combined 66 percent (25-38) from the field — that jumped out to a 14-6 run to begin the game and a 41-34 halftime lead.

“One thing we’ve emphasized over the last couple weeks is getting paint touches,” Stuteville said after the Hornets scored 36 points in the paint. “Getting paint touches is how we win the game, and just being on the same channel … Justin and Marcus are going to get their shots, but if we get our shots down low and in the paint, it’s going to be even harder to beat us.”

The task of beating the Hornets was made even harder for Montana as the entire Sac State team shot 58 percent (32-55) from the field, 52 percent (9-17) from the 3-point line and 70 percent (19-27) from the charity stripe. This shooting efficiency afforded the Hornets a comfortable 64-48 lead with 13:01 remaining in the game.

However, Montana freshman guard Sayeed Pridgett (28 points, 12-17 FG) and sophomore guard Ahmaad Rorie (22 points, 8-17 FG) helped the Grizzlies claw back into the game after the latter sunk two free throws to bring the Sac State lead down to 75-72 with 3:23 left.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m happy Rorie only had 22 (points); he’s a great player,” Sac State coach Brian Katz said. “They have a lot of weapons — you can’t shut them all down.”

The Hornets then responded with some weapons of their own as senior guard Trevis Jackson dished the ball out to Stuteville for a score and an eventual free throw. Stuteville then hit a jump shot on the next possession which put the Grizzlies away for the night.

Trevis Jackson with a nice dish to Stuteville. Stuteville scores and makes his free throw to bring the lead to 78-72 with 2:45 left. pic.twitter.com/puiGNSY3Iu

— Angel 👨🏽‍💻 (@angelguerrerooo) January 22, 2017

“I think the big difference to me, in the game tonight, was our aggression from start to finish,” Katz said. “I thought Thursday night, we really talked to the guys, I thought Montana State was clearly the most aggressive team from start to finish, and tonight I thought we were. We tell our guys you really have no chance if you aren’t the most aggressive team.”

This helps explain the difference in results between Thursday’s 74-65 loss to Montana State and Saturday’s 92-83 win over Montana, and it’s also similar to last year’s Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal, Katz said.

“They hurt us in the past by doubling the post the way Montana State did the other night,” Katz said. “Doubling it and then causing our bigs to turn the ball over — that’s how they beat us up there last year. We call it ‘monster’ where you double post to post. We really worked on it hard all week and told our guys to really get your eyes up and be ready for it.”

Katz will next ask his team to prepare for the Portland State Vikings as they arrive to the Nest on Jan. 28 at 7:05 p.m.