Battle-tested: Hornets squeak by Warriors, but leave wounded

As senior forward Jeremiah Cherry stood at the top of the key with just over four minutes left in the first half, he spotted sophomore guard Mikey Williams darting toward the hoop.

Cherry found the cutting Williams, who collected the ball and promptly took flight, slamming home the dunk and sending the Hornet Pavilion crowd into a frenzy.

Mikey did what Mikey does pic.twitter.com/08JvV4QO4R

— Sacramento State Men’s Basketball (@SacHornetsMBB) November 8, 2025

“That happened in slow motion,” Williams said. “I just remember coming off and cutting, then he passed it. It was perfect.”

Williams had an all around breakout performance, scoring 16 points, dishing out eight assists and pulling in six rebounds while helping lead the Hornets to a 86-76 win over the Jessup Warriors.

Throughout the night, the fans figuratively blew the roof off of the place whenever Williams had a highlight play.

“I definitely feel like I started to catch my rhythm this game. Over the past three years, I feel like I haven’t really played a lot of basketball,” Williams said. “You know, my shots are just falling a little bit. I think as we keep playing, as the season goes, I’m just gonna keep catching rhythm.”

Head coach Mike Bibby was impressed by Williams’ performance but continues to push him for more.

“He still has a little way to go, you know?” Bibby said. “It’s been a while since he’s been on the court, and he has to keep working.”

Bibby still thinks the team has a lot to improve, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

“We work on defense every day. Then we come out here and look like we haven’t been doing anything,” Bibby said. “Until we stop being ‘me, me, me,’ we’re not going to be a good team.”

One player who starred on that front was Cherry, who complemented his 15 points and 12 rebounds with five blocks, the most he’s had in a game in his Division I basketball career so far.

“I just try to play cat and mouse. That’s what my dad always says. See if [the offensive player] is gonna pass it or lay it up, and then just go straight up,” Cherry said. “They’re not going to be able to lay it up over me, so just keep your hands straight up and it’ll fall right into your hands.”

While Bibby recognizes the immense defensive shift put in by Cherry, his focus is more on preventing rim pressure from opponents in future games.

“Five blocks is good, he corrals the paint a little bit,” Bibby said. “But it’s hard when we’re not getting help from the guards or getting hit and screened all the time.”

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Cherry also put up his second straight double-double to begin the season and looks to continue thriving under the pressure placed onto him as one of the leaders of the team.

“Coach Mike is holding me to a high standard, he thinks I’m an NBA-caliber player,” Cherry said. “That’s the least I got to do. I’m just going down and trying to win.”

The story of the game was similar to the season opener for the Hornets, with the team having a slow start that led into a much better second half.

“I thought we had turned the corner from the second half of last game,” Bibby said. “It’s like we went back to our old habits.”

Sophomore guard Jayden Teat had another big night, topping the Hornets as far as scoring goes with 19 points. He also continued his 3-point form from the previous game, shooting an efficient 5-for-9 goal from long range.

As for the Warriors, they were led in scoring by Sacramento-native Warrior junior guard Varick Lewis. Lewis transferred to Jessup from Long Beach State, after spending his freshman and sophomore season with the Beach.

Jessup is also slightly undersized in comparison to Sac State, leading to Cherry being the target of a lot of double teams from the Warrior defense.

“Coach Brad [Miller] was just telling me to face up and make those quick passes,” Cherry said. “I was just trying to see if guys were cutting and see if I can make the easy pass and then just pick them apart.”

Sac State faces their first Division I opponent, UC Santa Barbara, at Hornet Pavilion on Tuesday, Nov. 11. They aim to keep their undefeated record against the Gauchos, who started their season with a 31-point blowout over the San Francisco State Gators.