BOX SCORE
HONOLULU, HI – After being down by 20 points with 7:49 left in the first half, the Dixie State College men's basketball team outscored the Chaminade Silverswords over the final 28 minutes by 31 points en route to a road comeback win 83-72 on Tuesday night inside McCabe Gymnasium.
Dixie State (15-4, 9-1 Pac West) dug themselves out of the huge first-half hole to trail the Silverswords (7-15, 4-6 PWC) by five at the break, 41-36.
A Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) jumper with 12:04 remaining tied the Red Storm with Chaminade for the first time at 50-50. DSC's first lead came a minute later off a penetrating lay-in by Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos).
The Swords took their final lead at the 8:05 mark on Matt Cousin's lay-up. Dixie State outscored Chaminade 26-14 after that to complete the biggest comeback victory in the school's brief NCAA Division-II history.
Junior forward Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) had another spectacular outing on the Hawaii roadie. He shot 8-of-14 from the floor with three makes from beyond the arc for a game-high 22 points. Whitehead added seven rebounds, five blocks, three assists and two steals in 34 minutes.
Barnes and Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) each added 13 points while Nick Howard (Sandy. UT/Jordan) netted 10 – his second straight game in double figures. Robbins ripped down eight rebounds. Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) and Adam Ross (Torrance. CA/North Torrance ) each pulled down six boards.
Steven Bennett scored 20 points hitting 7-of-23 shots to lead the Silverswords in scoring. Matt Cousins (16), Chandler Pearson (12) and Dominique Cooks (11) also tallied scores in double figures.
The Red Storm shot 44.3-percent on the night including 41.3-percent from distance and 84-percent from the free throw line. DSC outrebounded the Swords 38-33.
Dixie State returns to the court on Thursday night for a showdown with BYU-Hawaii. Tip is set for 7:30pm HT, 10:30pm MT. BYU Television will broadcast the game live from Laie.
Catch all of the live audio action from the Aloha State with John Potter on the Red Storm Radio Network – Classical 91.3 FM and Network1Sports.com – beginning at 8:00pm MST before the women's tip against the Lady Seasiders.
