SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Weber State made Sacramento State its mirror opposite with a 75-60 win Thursday at The Nest.
The Wildcats are undefeated in Big Sky play; the Hornets, winless.
With 10 NBA scouts and executives in attendance, including Sacramento Kings GM Geoff Petrie, Weber State point guard Damian Lillard scored 21 points and surpassed former Weber State star Jermaine Boyette for third place on the school's career scoring list with a 3-pointer in the second half.
WSU (16-3, 8-0 Big Sky) never trailed against Sacramento State (5-14, 0-8), which lost its ninth consecutive game and 10th straight against the Wildcats despite forcing 14 turnovers.
Lillard, who entered the game leading the country in scoring, has 1,622 points and trails Jimmy Degraffenreid (1,624) by only two. Lillard also moved up three spots to 16th on the Big Sky list.
The junior from Oakland said he doesn't worry about who might be watching from the NBA.
"I've heard it before. People tell me that scouts are at the game, but my main focus is helping my team win," Lillard said. "I bring the same thing to the table every game. If I need to score some points, I'll do that. Rebound, play defense, whatever needs to be done. We've been successful with me focusing on that to this point and that's what I did tonight."
Lillard was more aware of his family members from his hometown in attendance than he was of the attention from the NBA.
"It means a lot. Especially my first three years here, and last year when I got hurt, I didn't get to play in front of them a lot other than (at Sacramento State)," he said. "This is the fourth time this season and it's good to be around them a lot more this year than I have in the last few years. ... Just to have them supporting me. I like the feeling."
Weber State moved to 8-0 in the league for third time in school history with its 10th straight win. The Wildcats have been undefeated in the Big Sky twice and last went 14-0 in league games in 2002-03.
WSU's biggest loss this week was junior forward Frank "Mook" Otis, who injured his MCL during practice and may be out for the season. Otis, who began the season as a starter, had just returned from a dislocated knee which cost him nine games, coming off the bench in the Wildcats' last two contests.
The 'Cats brought a balanced attack Thursday, helped by senior forward Darin Mahoney's season-high 14 points and his first ever double-double with 10 rebounds, his career high.
Junior guard Scott Bamforth had 17 points and sophomore center Kyle Tresnak followed his career-high 22 point game against Northern Arizona with 13 points.
After Sacramento State's John Dickson scored the Hornets' first 10 points of the half, Jackson Carbajal hit a 3 to cut Weber State's double-digit lead down to eight points.
Dickson finished with 20 points, Carbajal had 14 and Dylan Garrity added 10.
"I thought they were going to make a run; everybody does on their own home court," Weber State coach Randy Rahe said. "They made a nice push at us. We missed some shots along the way. Mahoney made a big pull-up jumper on the baseline that kind of ended the run and got us jump-started."
Mahoney's basket started an 11-2 run as the Wildcats killed Sac State's buzz.
"We got kind of sped up to begin with and that's when they made their run," Lillard said. "They like to play really fast and they were on their home court.
"We just had to regain our composure and execute, try to find a way to pull it out down the stretch."
Bamforth hit a pair of 3s and Lillard followed with another to give the Wildcats a 38-22 lead, its largest lead of the first half.
Lillard's best shot of the night didn't count.
On an inbounds play with 1.3 seconds left, Lillard took a handoff from Tresnak and swished an incredible fadeaway 3 at the buzzer, but the officials ruled he stepped out of bounds on the shot with .4 seconds.
The Wildcats led 42-28 at the break.
Weber State faces Idaho State on Saturday in Pocatello, Idaho.
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