SLIDESHOW: Weber State vs. Sacramento State NCAA college men's basketball
OGDEN -- The play of the game didn't take place on the offensive or defensive side of the court on Friday. Nope, it happened right at the center circle, and brought the loudest cheer of the night from the WSU faithful.
Weber State strengthened its hold on first place in the Big Sky Conference with an 81-59 win over Sacramento State at the Dee Events Center, and with their fifth straight win, the Wildcats (14-7, 8-1 Big Sky) completed the season sweep over the Hornets.
WSU used a 17-4 run midway through the first half to take control of the game, and never let the Hornets (7-15, 1-8 Big Sky) back within striking distance as the Wildcats eventually built a 72-44 lead.
Steve Panos led WSU with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and his 10 rebounds tied a career-high he set last season at Long Beach State.
Panos credits WSU's performance in the game to the way the players got going in the shootaround earlier in the day.
"We came out with high energy and high intensity," Panos said. "In the shootaround we got guys moving around and the great shootaround carried over into the game."
WSU's game-changing stretch started when, with the Wildcats trailing 18-16 with just less than 10 minutes left in the first half, Darin Mahoney set a screen for Lindsey Hughey at midcourt. An unsuspecting Sultan Toles-Bey, who was hounding Hughey as the guard brought the ball up the court, ran straight into Mahoney and was sent crashing to the floor.
"Oh yeah, that was a good screen," Hughey said. "I saw it so I just ran him off."
With the crowd still cheering, and Toles-Bay getting to his feet, Hughey hit a 3-pointer to give WSU the 19-18 lead. WSU never surrendered that lead the rest of the game.
"It got the bench up and the crowd into it," Panos said of Mahoney's screen. "When the crowd's into it and we've got everyone playing with high intensity, we play good ball."
Mahoney came up big moments later when he blocked a shot under the basket by Sacramento State's John Dickinson, and the Wildcats took of on a fast break which ended with a three-point play by Hughey.
Those six straight points by Hughey, who finished with 14 off the bench, started the 17-4 run to give WSU the 33-22 lead with 4:24 left in the first half.
Justin Eller scored 12 points to lead the Hornets, who shot just 34.6 percent from the floor compared to WSU's 52.5 percent.
WSU improved to 9-0 this season when having four or more players score in double-digits as Damian Lillard finished with 15 points and Franklin Session had 11. The pair teamed up on a fast break in the second half with Lillard giving Session an alley-oop and Session dunking the ball.
Lillard, saw limited time on Friday after battling foul trouble, however the Wildcats had others step up, most notably Hughey.
"You get a little worried when you have to take Damian out, but (Hughey has) been really stepping up for us," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe.
Rahe also pointed to Josh Noble as an important contributor in the victory. Noble finished with a career-high seven points, including a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 36-28 lead at intermission.
"He practices so well, so hard every day and he's always ready to play," Rahe said. "That big 3 he hit at the end of the half was as big of a shot as we had all night long."
Wildcats started the second half on a 9-0 run with Panos scoring four points during the stretch.
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