FRESNO, Calif. — Sylvester Seay scored 17 points in his Fresno State debut as the Bulldogs used a quick second-half start to defeat Sacramento State 77-65 on Friday night in both teams' season opener.

Seay, a transfer from Arizona State, scored eight of his points during a 13-0 Fresno State run to begin the second half. The surge put the Bulldogs ahead 50-31.

Loren Leath scored a game-high 21 points for Sacramento State in its first game under new coach Brian Katz. The senior went 5 of 7 from three-point range.

Freshman Paul George added 14 points for Fresno State (1-0), highlighted by four rim-rattling dunks, including a one-hander in traffic after he drove the baseline. Dwight O'Neil had 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Sacramento State (0-1) failed to score in the first 6:39 of the second half before Jared Stigall ended the drought with a three-pointer.

After another Stigall three brought the Hornets to within 54-39 with 11:54 left, Fresno State responded by initiating three consecutive fast breaks.

O'Neil stole the ball in the backcourt and passed to George for an alley-oop dunk. O'Neil made another steal and passed to Mychal Ladd for a dunk. George then dunked off a long rebound and pass from O'Neil, putting the Bulldogs up by 21 points and forcing Sacramento State to call timeout with 10:09 left.

Fresno State led by as many as 26 points, 71-45, before the Hornets closed the deficit in the final minutes with Leath getting hot from the outside.

Mike Edwards, one of 12 junior college transfers recruited by Katz, added 10 points for Sacramento State. All came in the first half.

The Hornets shot 37.9 percent from the field compared to Fresno State's 54.7. The Bulldogs had 11 blocked shots, including three by Seay, compared to one for Sacramento State.