CEDAR CITY, Utah — Sacramento State did not trail the first 22 minutes of clock, but Southern Utah outscored the Hornets in the second half by a wide margin (41-26) on the way to a 64-51 victory on Thursday evening at American First Event Center.

Sacramento State was playing for the first time in 13 days, as the Hornets have seen a pair of games canceled or postponed during that stretch. The rust showed as the Hornets scored a season-low 51 points on 19-for-52 shooting (36%) while committing 14 turnovers.

Sacramento State's defense came to play, limiting the Big Sky's top scoring team to just 64 points. Southern Utah, which entered the game averaging 79.4 points per contest, shot just 36% (22-60) from the field. Both teams shot 6-for-26 (23%) from distance. At one point in the first half, Southern Utah had missed 18 of its first 21 shots from the field, and was off the mark on each of its first 13 attempts from the 3-point line.

The Hornets led by as many as nine points in the first half (15-6 at the 8:42 mark), but could not pull away thanks to an offense that could not get anything going. Southern Utah would eventually use a 29-12 run spanning nine minutes of both the first and second halves to take a 10-point lead with 11:27 to play. Sacramento State would get no closer than seven points of that lead the rest of the way. The 13-point margin of victory was also the Thunderbirds' largest advantage of the evening.

The loss dropped Sacramento State to 4-6 overall, and 0-3 in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets played their first two conference games in early December, with both resulting in narrow home losses to the Montana schools. With the exception of a Jan. 3 game at Oregon State, the remainder of Sacramento State's schedule features games against only Big Sky opposition.

Southern Utah, which was selected first in both the Big Sky's preseason media and coaches polls, improved to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in league play. The Thunderbirds are now 5-0 at home, and have won 20 straight at American First Events Center dating back to the 2019-20 season.

The home team continues to dominate in the series between Sacramento State and Southern Utah, as the Thunderbirds are now 16-3 when playing the Hornets in Cedar City. That includes a pair of Hornets losses at Southern Utah a year ago.

The Thunderbirds held sizable advantages in points from the free throw line (14-7), fast break points (9-2), second chance points (13-4) and points off turnovers (11-4). The 14 turnovers for the Hornets were their third largest mark of the season.

Sacramento State, which played tonight's game without the services of Jonathan Komagum, Teiano Hardee and Akili Evans, had three players score in double figures. Cameron Wilbon had 10 points and nine rebounds, and was the only Hornet to shoot at least 50 percent from the field (4-for-8). Bryce Fowler added 12 points and six rebounds, and Zach Chappell 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

William FitzPatrick buried three triples and finished with nine points and five rebounds, and Deshaun Highler added seven points. Hugo Clarkin, who started at center in place of Komagum, finished with five rebounds.

Sacramento State will take the next few days off before returning to play at Oregon State on Monday, Jan. 3, at 3:00 p.m. That game has been rescheduled twice from its original date of Dec. 11, and then Dec. 28. After Monday's contest, the Hornets' final 17 regular season games will be played vs. Big Sky opposition.

The Hornets are in the midst of a season-long four-game road trip, which includes Jan. 8 at Northern Colorado, and Jan. 10 at Northern Arizona.