FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5. 2009

ST. GEORGE. Utah (DSC) – Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half to pace Dixie State to a 79-63 men's basketball win over Grand Canyon in Pacific West Conference action on Thursday night. Palmer connected on 8-of-9 shots from the field. including a 3-pointer. He also had five rebounds.

Ryan Sanchez (Ogden. UT/Fremont) led the Red Storm (8-4. 15-11) with 20 points and eight rebounds while Bowie Jeffs (Castle Dale. UT/Emery) added 16 points. He had seven assists

“I liked seeing three guys in double figures.” said DSC coach Jon Judkins. “I thought we played well. We came out and played hard. We changed up our defenses and we did a good job rebounding.”.

David Cuen paced Grand Canyon (5-7. 13-13) with 18 points while Eric Cuen added 12. Brandon McGruder had 11 and Engen Nurumbi had 10.

“Andy has three good games against these guys.” Judkins said. “He really started going strong to the basket.”

The Red Storm outrebounded the Antelopes 36-28. Kevin Lindquist (Gilbert. AZ/Lone Peak) helped Dixie State's cause with six. Eric Cuen led Grand Canyon with nine.

After six ties and five lead changes in the early moments of the first half. the Red Storm took control with a 12-2 run. Sanchez had five of his points as Dixie State built a 29-20 lead on Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie)'s basket with 6:02 remaining in the half.

Grand Canyon eased back within 33-28 on McGruder's basket with 2:49 left. but the Red Storm finished on a 9-2 run to lead 42-30 at the half. Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak)'s driving layup for Dixie State as the buzzer sounded answered Engen Nurumbi's slam dunk with five seconds remaining.

Dixie State will wrap up the regular season on Friday. playing Grand Canyon in a non-conference game. Tipoff is scheduled at 7:30 p.m.