SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento State shot a season-high .611 (33-of-54) from the field and received contributions from all 13 players on the active roster while posting an 81-54 victory over UC Merced on Saturday evening at the Nest.

With the victory, Sacramento State snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 2-6. The Hornets were playing just their second home game of the season, and first inside the Nest since Nov. 17. The Hornets are now 2-0 at home this season, and 46-14 inside the Nest going back to the beginning of the 2012-13 season. That includes a five-game winning streak at home dating back to last year.

UC Merced, which is an NAIA affiliated school that plays in the California Pacific Conference, dropped to 1-8. The Hornets and Bobcats were facing each other for the second time ever, which includes a 96-62 Sacramento State victory inside the Nest in the 2012-13 season opener.

The Hornets have just three non-conference games remaining, including a road date with South Dakota a week from today, a home contest against Abilene Christian on Dec. 17, and a matchup at Washington State on Dec. 21. The Hornets open the 18-game Big Sky Conference schedule on Dec. 29 at home vs. Northern Colorado.

Tonight, Sacramento State shot the ball well, had a massive edge in the rebounding department (51-17), had 22 assists on 33 made buckets, and posted 14 offensive rebounds. The Hornets could have made the score even more lopsided if not for a rough evening from the free throw line that saw the team shoot just .423 (11-26) from the charity stripe. However, the team compensated by shooting 33-of-54 from the field, including four made 3-pointers and a robust 46 points in the paint.

UC Merced's only lead of the game came at 3-2, but that lead lasted exactly 19 seconds as Sacramento State would answer with an 8-0 run and cruise form there. In fact, the Hornets led by double figures the final 23:08 of the game and opened up an advantage as large as 29 points before settling for the 27-point victory.

Two Hornets had career nights, including guard Marcus Graves who had a monster contest, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, a career-high 10 assists and just one turnover in 30 minutes. He also shot 6-for-6 from the field, and the double-double was the first of his career.

Forward Nick Hornsby posted his third double-double of the season with 13 points, a career-high 15 rebounds, two assists and one steal. Seven of those 15 boards came on the offensive glass. The 15 rebounds surpassed his previous career high of 13, and are tied for the sixth best single-game mark in Sacramento State's Div. I era (1991-pres.).

Junior forward Justin Strings finished one point of his career high, as he poured in 25 points to go along with eight rebounds. Strings shot 8-of-14 from the field, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Also scoring in double figures for Sacramento State was senior center Eric Stuteville who had 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots while shooting 7-of-9 from the field, including a pair of dunks.

Redshirt freshman Joshua Patton had five points and five rebounds, center James Herrick had four points, and Grant Dressler had five rebounds, an assist and a block. Trevis Jackson buried his only field goal attempt (a 3-pointer) and also had three assists without a turnover in 10 minutes. All 13 active players on the roster played at least three minutes, including Jiday Ugbaja (one assist and one rebound in four minutes) who was making his return after missing three games with a foot injury.

UC Merced was limited to .339 (20-of-59) shooting from the field, including 7-for-23 (.304) from the 3-point line. Of the Bobcats' 17 rebounds, only two came on the offensive glass. Cole Taira had 15 points including 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc ,and Derek E'denchukwu added 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

NOTABLES -- Tonight's game was the first of a doubleheader that featured the Hornet women hosting USC at 7:30 p.m…it marked Sacramento State's first true basketball doubleheader since Nov. 8, 2013, when the women beat Cal State Northridge, 92-73, and the men beat UC Santa Cruz, 73-43.