SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern Colorado’s magic number is two.
Saturday night’s 78-66 win over Sacramento State allowed the Bears to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Big Sky Tournament and move within two victories of gaining a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Will Figures had 20 points and six rebounds, Elliott Lloyd and Mike Proctor scored 16 points each and Neal Kingman added 11 points for the Bears (24-6, 12-4 Big Sky).
With the No. 2 seed, Northern Colorado earned a first-round bye in next weekend’s conference tournament. UNC will play in the Big Sky semi-finals March 9.
The victory moved the Bears into a tie with Northern Colorado’s 1988-89 team that also finished 24-6 for the most wins and the best win-loss record in school history.
Justin Eller scored 25 points and Duro Bjegovich added 10 points for the Hornets (9-21, 3-13). The Hornets finished in last place.
The Bears’ biggest lead of the game came off a 3-point shot by Figures to make the score 60-44 with 11:23 remaining in the second half.
The Hornets cut UNC’s lead to 10 points on three occasions but failed to get any closer.
The Bears shot 53.3 percent (26-of-47) from the floor, including 8-of-15 shooting on 3-pointers. They made six 3-pointers in the first half and led 43-33 at halftime.
It was UNC’s 12th road or neutral-site win this season.
