Sacramento St. 77, Eastern Washington 71

SACRAMENTO (AP) Raashad Hooks scored a career-high 23 points and had a perfect night from the free throw line to lead Sacramento State over Eastern Washington 77-71 in Big Sky Conference play Thursday.

With the Hornets holding on to a 71-69 lead in the final minute, Hooks hit all four of his free throws, and teammate Chris Lange hit a pair as well to hold off Eastern Washington.

Freshman forward Lange finished with a career-high 14 points. Junior guard Brandon Guyton also pitched in 14 points and seven rebounds, and was 4-for-9 from beyond the arc. Hooks, a senior, was 9-for-9 from the line overall.

The Hornets shot 46 percent from three-point land (7-15), and dominated on the boards 44-27.

Senior forward Chris Hester led the Eagles, scoring 16 points. Sophomore forward Marc Axton added 11, and freshman guard Danny Pariseau and sophomore forward Jeremy McCulloch had 10 apiece. Junior guard Brendon Merritt was held to eight points on 1-of-8 shooting.

Eastern Washington was 23-of-53 from the floor. Sac State (9-13, 3-6) led by as many as 11 in the first half, but the Eagles (15-9, 7-3) ended the period with an 8-2 run to make it 42-38 at the break.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game five minutes into the second half, when forward Keith Browne's bucket put Eastern Washington ahead 47-46. But Sac State's Derek Lambeth hit a 15-foot jumper to put the Hornets back on top.

Two free throws by the Eagles' Pariseau tied it 69-69 with 2:53 remaining, but the Hornets' sharp free-throw shooting down the stretch gave them the win.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)