SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State bigs Callum McRae and Akol Mawein both posted double-doubles, and the Hornets had a huge rebounding advantage in a 72-64 home win over Northern Colorado on Thursday evening at the Nest.

McRae wasn't far off a triple-double as the 7-foot-1 center finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes. Mawein had 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Both finished 6-for-9 from the field. The double-double for McRae was his seventh of the season (one shy of the Hornets' Div. I record), and the Mawein double-double was his second.

The Hornets led for nearly 35 minutes of game clock, had a whopping 43-27 advantage in the rebounding department, and led the final 23:39 of the contest. The Hornets held a double-figure advantage for 10 minutes in the second half before a late barrage of Bear 3-pointers sliced the lead to five points twice in the final 45 seconds. However, the Hornets answered with points on the next possession both times to put things away. Austin Patterson scored four points in the final 33 seconds, including a layup and pair of free throws.

The victory improved Sacramento State to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets are already one victory shy of their entire season total from a year ago (11-18). In addition, Sacramento State has won seven of its last nine games, and remained perfect at home (6-0).

Tonight began a stretch that will see the Hornets play six of eight games at home. That is a welcome relief to a program that played in the Nest just five times during its first 16 games of the season.

Sacramento State's lone conference loss came by three points on the road against an Eastern Washington team that is 4-0 in league, and remains the only Big Sky team without a conference defeat.

Northern Colorado, which was selected to finish second in the Big Sky preseason poll and advanced to last year's conference tournament championship game, dropped to a surprising 5-12 overall and 0-5 in conference. The Bears had an impressive road win at Colorado State in early December, but are now riding a seven-game losing streak.

The Hornets finished the game shooting 53% (28-53) from the field, had a season-high 22 assists on 28 made buckets, and outscored the Bears by four points in each half.

Rounding out the Hornet threesome in double figures was point guard Gianni Hunt who finished with a season-high 16 points on a very efficient six shots from the field. He also had five assists, four rebounds, and was 5-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, and 4-4 FT.

All eight Sacramento State players that appeared in tonight's game scored at least four points. Patterson had seven points, Quadry Adams six points (2-3 3FG), three rebounds and two assists, and Cameron Wilbon six points and three boards. Hunter Marks tallied five points and was a game-high +15 in plus/minus, and Zach Chappell added four points, four rebounds, four assists and a +13.

The Hornets return to action on Saturday when they host Northern Arizona at 2 p.m. Sacramento State players will sign autographs on free posters after the game.