ST. GEORGE. UT- In a game Saturday night at Burns Arena that featured 13 lead changes. the Dixie State College (7-6. 2-0 PacWest) men's basketball team escaped with a 87-78 win over University of Hawaii-Hilo (8-6. 2-2 PacWest).

Despite blowing a 14 point half time lead. DSC was able to ride the back of senior guard Ryan Sanchez (Ogden. UT/Fremont) to victory. Sanchez scored 16 of 27 points in seconds half. Hawaii Hilo opened the second half with an 18-3 run that gave them a 49-47 lead with 13:37 left. The run was due in part to the play of Jay Demaestri who was making everything he shot. He opened the half scoring 13 of the Vulcans 18 points. 

The lead exchanged hands several time until Sanchez's layup with 2:35 knotted the game up at 76. the seventh tie of the game. Defensively DSC was able to combat the play of Demaestri and offset the 55.6% shooting of UHH. Down the stretch. DSC defenders were able to get key stops and forced the Vulcans to commit 3 offensive fouls.  The final charge was called with game tied at 76 and John Smith drove baseline and Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) stepped in front of Smith drawing the charge. From that play on. DSC never trailed. 

UHH finished with three players in double figures. Leading the way was John Smith (23 points. 3 rebounds). Bryan Ngo (20 points. 1 rebound) and Demaestri (13 points. 7 rebounds.

For DSC Sanchez (27 points. 9 rebounds). Dalton Groskruetz (14 points. 2 rebounds). and Ben Hartman (Santa Clara. UT/Snow Canyon) (10 points. 9 rebounds) led DSC on the offensive end.

Dixie State College ended their home stand winning six of seven games and will hit the road next week. DSC will play Grand Canyon Thursday and Friday night in Phoenix. AZ. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 PM tip-off. The games can be heard live on KDXU 890 AM or you can watch them streamed live on the internet at dixieathletics.com