I felt like our guys played a lot tougher tonight. We played a lot harder and had great team spirit. – Randy Rahe
OGDEN — Following a two-game skid, Weber State coach Randy Rahe immediately demanded more toughness from his young team.
With Big Sky-leading Sacramento State in town, the Wildcats brought a physicality and toughness to the table that people hadn't yet seen this season. They went toe to toe with the Hornets before eventually falling 78-71 for a third-consecutive loss Saturday night.
It's the first time since 2006 that the ‘Cats have dropped back-to-back home conference games.
“I felt like our guys played a lot tougher tonight. We played a lot harder and had great team spirit,” said Rahe. “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough tonight. But overall, I was really proud of our kids’ fight and how hard we came out and played and stuck together.”
Weber State came out firing as stars Joel Bolomboy and Jeremy Senglin combined for 21 of its first 24 points to find an early rhythm and take the lead.
The ‘Cats went on to shoot 54 percent from the field, including an impressive 45 percent shooting from beyond the arc, in the opening 20 minutes and led by as many as seven before Sacramento State’s Dylan Garrity torched the home team for 15 points to tie the game at 37-apiece at the break.
“We just came out trying to fight, because we didn’t bring that intensity the last two games,” Senglin said. “We just knew we had to come out and fight if we wanted to have an opportunity to win.”
The Hornets took the momentum into the second half and put the pressure back on the home team as they drained four straight buckets to take a four-point lead with just under 12:00 remaining in the game.
The two teams continued to swap baskets until Bolomboy and Jaelyn Johnson-Coston brought down the house with back-to-back putback baskets and Richaud Gittens knocked down a free throw to retake the lead at 63-62 with just under 6:00 left in the contest.
“They have great poise. We made a push at them and they didn’t even flinch,” Rahe added. “They are a very confident team and my hat goes off to them tonight. They made plays when it counted.”
The Wildcats couldn’t seem to slow down the high-octane Sacramento State offense as star guard Mikh McKinney exploded for 27 second-half points and scored 11 of the final 13 points of the game to give the visitors a comfortable six-point cushion and the impressive road victory.
McKinney finished the night with a game-high 33 points and seven assists and went 8 for 9 from the field, including 5 of 5 from deep, in the second half alone to lead the visitors to victory.
“I was feeling really good. I got into a little rhythm and made a couple (of baskets), and I just had to make shots for my team and try to win the game,” McKinney said of his second-half performance. “We’ve come here the last couple of years and had a rough time, so to be able to pull one out here is great for our team.”
Ryan Love is a full-time student at the University of Utah studying communications, and has been a part-time sportswriter and scoreboarder for the Deseret News since Oct. 2012.
Follow him on Twitter @RLove7724
EMAIL: rlove@deseretnews.com