Sacramento State men’s basketball was on the cusp of achieving something that had never been done in program history on Tuesday.
The Hornets had multiple late-game opportunities to advance to their first-ever Big Sky Championship game, but couldn’t convert and lost 74-71 to Montana State.
Junior guard Zee Hamoda got off a game-tying shot attempt with seven seconds left in the game, after he evaded his defender with a pump fake.
Hamoda’s shot ricocheted off the rim and led to a scrum for the ball that lasted for so long it put an end to Sac State’s storybook run as the clock struck zero.
The Hornets had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with a one-and-one but missed the front end.
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Free throw shooting had been a huge strength for the Hornets in the tournament, shooting 82% from the charity stripe over the previous two games.
Sac State shot 4-of-9 from the line in the second half, which hurt them badly and was a big reason they couldn’t prevail.
After an 18-14 Hornet advantage in the first half, Montana State went on a 15-0 run and eventually took its largest lead of the game at 38-24.
“Earlier in the season that lead may have gone up to 20 or 25,” junior guard Austin Patterson said. “Our game plan was just to be resilient and I feel like we did that for most of the game.”
The Hornets’ composure has been a big key to their success during this late-season run. They’ve been able to consistently answer their opponents’ surges and that hung true in this one.
Sac State closed the half on a 14-4 run, which put them well within striking distance at 42-38.
The Hornets opened up the second half with a trio of threes, two from Hamoda and one from freshman center Bowyn Beatty, to knot it up at 47.
Montana State went on a 14-4 run from that point, to which the Hornets answered with a 13-4 burst.
“I feel like when we were down we basically gave ourselves a smack to wake up,” Hamoda said. “We knew what we were supposed to do and that was to follow the plan.”
It was close from there on out. Montana State’s lead was never larger than four inside the five-minute mark, despite leading by double-digits at multiple junctions in the game.
Sac State head coach David Patrick said on multiple occasions that his team is amongst the youngest in the nation with how many freshmen they play on a nightly basis.
Half of the Hornets’ eight-man rotation during this tournament was made up of freshmen compared to the Bobcats’ zero.
Sac State went toe-to-toe with Montana State, a team that advanced to its fourth straight title game with this win.
Not only this game, but the past few weeks serve as a landmark for Sac State going forward.
“They grew up over the course of the year,” Patrick said. “Now they know what it tastes like to win, I’m hopeful we’ll keep these guys together.”
The Hornets won four out of six after dropping 11-straight games, won two Big Sky Tournament games for the first time since joining the league in 1996 and were two wins shy of their first trip to March Madness.
“You take that momentum that we had into the offseason,” Patrick said. “I think the future is very bright for Sac State.”
