Men's Basketball 11/25/2010 7:47:23 PM John Potter, Assistant Sports Information

MBB: Red Storm Spends Turkey Day Weekend in Grand Junction

DSC competes in Clarion Inn Classic at Mesa State

Clarion Inn Media Notes

THIS WEEKEND: Dixie State College competes in the Clarion Inn Thanksgiving Basketball Classic hosted by Mesa State College. The Red Storm will open with Western State College on Friday, November 26 at approximately 3:00pm (upon completion of the Dixie State women vs. Texas-Permian Basin game). The two-day classic concludes with the Storm batting the host Mavericks around 7:00pm on Saturday, November 27 at the Brownson Arena.

RADIO: Live coverage from Grand Junction will be heard on KXDS 91.3FM with the “Voice of Red Storm Athletics” John Potter. The Intermountain Sports Medicine Pregame Show begins immediately after the conclusion of the preceding DSC women's basketball game.

ONLINE AUDIO: Online audio for DSC's games during the Thanksgiving Classic will be available on Classical 91.3FM's website (Dixie.edu/classical91) and Network1Sports.com's Dixie State radio page. Links for the Network1Sports feed are available on DixieAthletics.com.

ONLINE VIDEO: Pay per view video access is available through America One. A link to the video stream is available on DixieAthletics.com

LIVE STATS: Mesa State College, the host school, will provide live stats through their website. Locate the tournament link at www.MesaMavs.com.

ALL-TIME SERIES:
Western State: 1-0 (Last meeting: W 78-63, January 2, 2010 in St. George)
Mesa State: 1-2 (Last meeting: W 71-59, December 29, 2008 in St. George; DSC is 0-2 at Mesa)

DSC PROBABLE STARTERS:
G – Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos), 6-1, 185, Sr. (7.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, .367 FG, .417 3FG, .714 FT)
G – Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas), 5-11, 165, Sr. (9.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.0 apg, .316 FG, .381 3FG, .778 FG)
F – Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie), 6-6, 185, Sr. (12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.4 apg, .383 FG, .280 3FG, .875 FT)
F – Griffon Jones (Cheney, WA/Cheney), 6-5, 220, Jr. (13.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, .605 FG, .773 FT)
C – Everton Araujo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Torquato Caleiro), 6-7, 235, Sr. (5.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .429 FG, .765 FT)

THE OPPONENTS: Western State, out of Gunnison, Colorado, is on the Red Storm's basketball schedule for the second straight season. DSC bested the Mountaineers inside the Burns Arena 78-62 on January 2, 2010 in the school's lone D-II meeting. Western State is 0-2 on the season after losses at Boise State (78-52) on Nov. 13 and Eastern New Mexico (74-67) at home on Nov. 17. Point guard Weylan Towns and guard/forward Martin Graham are each averaging 12 points per game to lead WSC. Troy McCoy recorded a double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds, in the loss to E. New Mexico. Mike Moskowitz is in his fourth year at the helm of the Mountaineer program. Mesa State is 2-0 on the year after defeating Oklahoma Panhandle State (72-43) and York (Neb.) College last weekend at the CSU-Pueblo Al Kaly Classic. The Mavericks were RMAC Champions last year and made the NCAA Tournament in the Central Region before losing to Augustana College in the second round. Mesa State lost All-American Mike Domoinguez to graduation, but has reloaded with five players averaging double figures in scoring after two games led by forward Colton Burgon at 13.0PPG. Colton's brother Cameron is on the squad and should be a familiar presence to Dixie State fans – he played 25 games for the 2006-07 Rebels scoring 2.8 points per game. The Mavs are led by Jim Heap in his 15th year (249-141).

TOM TERRIFIC: A magnificent weekend for forward Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) at the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic ended with being named MVP of the tournament and Pacific West Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 19.0 points per game while shooting 50% from the floor. Whitehead also averaged 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals, and was nearly perfect from the charity stripe (11 of 12).

GRIFF LEADS THE STORM: Forward Griffon Jones (Cheney, WA/Cheney) leads Dixie State College in two major statistical categories through five games – points and minutes. The junior is netting 13.8 points per game while playing 30 minutes a contest.

RECORDS MEANT TO BE BROKEN: Career records were set and milestones were past during last weekend's classic in Seattle. Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) passed Ryan Sanchez for first place on the DSC D-II list for three-pointers made with 92. Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos) surpassed the 100-career assist mark and Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) scored his 400th career point at Dixie State in just 31 games.

PAC WEST GETS SECOND WIN OVER A D-I: Wednesday morning in Hawaii, the Chaminade Silverswords defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 68-62 in the 7th-place game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational. The win over a Division-I school comes on the heels of the Dixie State women's victory over Utah State on Nov. 12 in Logan.

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