TOURNAMENT WEBPAGE

STORM TRAVEL TO EMERALD CITY FOR TWO TESTS: The Dixie State men's basketball team hits the road for the first time in the 2013-14 NCAA season to participate in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, hosted by Seattle Pacific. On Friday, the Storm face Central Washington at 4 p.m. MT (3 p.m. PT) to open men's tournament action. The next night, DSU will face the second-ranked Falcons at 8 p.m. MT (7 p.m. PT). SPU provides live stats and a video free for both games; links are available on DixieAthletics.com. There will be no radio coverage for this weekend's games.

RANKED TO END LAST SEASON, GETTING VOTES THIS YEAR: The Red Storm closed the 2012-13 season ranked No. 18 - its highest national spot in program history. This year, Dixie State received 13 votes to unofficially sit at No. 37 in the country heading into the year.

LAST TIME OUT – DSU COOLS DOWN FIREBIRDS IN EXHIBITION: All 13 players in uniform scored Saturday night as Dixie State cruised to a 107-64 exhibition win over St. Katherine College to close out day two of the DSU Classic in the Burns Arena.

Five Red Storm players scored in double figures led by 14-point efforts from Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) and Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak). DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) and Robbie Nielson (Gresham, OR/Barlow) (Gresham, OR/Barlow) added 12 points apiece while Braden Saunders (Morgan, UT/Morgan) (Morgan, UT/Morgan) chipped in with 10 points.

The Red Storm opened the game with a 9-0 run against the Firebirds. DSU led by as many as 25 late in the first half before settling for a 51-30 lead after 20 minutes.

Dixie's lead ballooned to 30 points on a Robbins free throw five minutes into the second half and hit the 40-point crest on a Saunders three-ball with 6:20 left on the clock.

Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) had an all-around solid output – nine points, six rebounds, three steals and 10 assists. Robbins and Jordan Rex (Saint George, UT/Pine View) (Saint George, UT/Pine View) cleaned up nine rebounds each with Curtis Papenfuss (Happy Valley, OR/Clackamas) (Happy Valley, OR/Clackamas) adding seven boards.

Dixie State shot 39-of-76 for the night (51.3 percent) with six shots connecting from distance.

Dale Austin and Dante Miller led SKC with 16 points each. The Firebirds were held to 32.3 percent shooting.

STORM PICKED TO WIN, ROBBINS HONORED:
Dixie State was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Pacific West Conference, and Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) was selected as the preseason Player of the Year according to a coaches' vote released Thursday, Nov. 7, by the league. Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) was also selected on the All-PacWest Preseason Team.
 
The Red Storm received nine of 13 first-place votes to take the top spot with 165 points. Fresno Pacific (136) edged BYU-Hawaii (135) for second place while both teams received a first-place vote. Chaminade ranked fourth in the vote followed by Azusa Pacific, California Baptist and Hawai'i Pacific to round out the top half of the predicted order.
 
Dixie State was the only school with two players voted to the Preseason All-PacWest squad. The other members honored by the league were Lee Baily from Chaminade, Malcolm Griffin from Fresno Pacific, Troy Leaf from Azusa Pacific, DeAndre Medlock from BYU-Hawaii and Malte Ziegenhagen from Hawai'i Pacific.

THE RETURNERS:
> Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak), a 6-4 combo guard/forward, is back for his senior season after missing last year rehabbing a knee injury. The Cedar Hills, Utah, native was the 2007 PacWest Freshman of the Year.
> Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon), the 6-6 forward from Santa Clara, Utah, returns for his senior season after having a great junior campaign. He averaged 11.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the season while shooting 80-percent from the charity stripe. Groskreutz was a second-team all-PacWest honoree.
> Robbie Nielson (Gresham, OR/Barlow), the 6-4 guard from Gresham, Ore., played 12 games for Dixie State last year. He averaged 1.5 points per game.
> Curtis Papenfuss (Happy Valley, OR/Clackamas), a 6-8 forward from Happy Valley, Ore., appeared in 27 of the 28 DSU games last year. Papenfuss had a season-high 20 points off the bench at Azusa Pacific.
> Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak), a 6-0 senior from Alpine, Utah, is expected to be the returning starter at point guard for Dixie State. Payne ranked third in the PacWest with 5.0 assists per game.
> DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy), the 6-2 shooting guard from Las Vegas, expects to crack the starting lineup this year. Thompson finished last year strong to post a 9.2-point per game average.
> Braden Saunders (Morgan, UT/Morgan), the 6-3 guard from Morgan, Utah, returns to DSU after serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He redshirted for the Storm prior to his mission.

THE NEWCOMERS:
> Nate Ensign (American Fork, UT/American Fork), a 6-9 center, is a true freshman from American Fork, Utah. Ensign just returned from a mission.
> Louis Garrett (Saint George, UT/Pine View), the 6-6 senior forward from St. George, transferred from San Jose State. Garrett averaged 6.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in mainly a reserve role for the Spartans last year.
> Darius Matthews, a 6-8 junior center from Long Beach, Calif., transfers from Cerritos College. Matthews sat out last year after previously committing at California Baptist.
> Jordan Rex (Saint George, UT/Pine View), the 6-9 hometown product from St. George, will play center for the Red Storm. Last year, Rex redshirted at Weber State.
> Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan), the 5-10 sophomore guard from West Jordan, Utah, will likely start the season backing up Payne at point guard. Sawyer signed to play at Boise State after a stellar career at West Jordan HS. He transferred to Snow College before embarking on a church mission.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Four Dixie State players are moving up the career record book ages in multiple stats. Senior guard Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) had four assists against Colorado Mesa to pass McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) and become the DSU all-time leader. Payne also needs two steals to move into fifth place past Tom Whitehead, four steals to get into fourth place past Maurice Cole, and 10 steals to move into third ahead of Dan Stock. Junior forward Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland), already the DSU leader in career blocks, needs eight points to pass Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) for eighth place and 36 points to pass Griffon Jones for seventh. He needs 19 rebounds to become the all-time leader past current DSU assistant Ryan Sanchez and seven offensive rebounds to get to No. 1 past Owen. Robbins can pass Ben Hartman for fifth on the field goals made list with 11 shots. Senior forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) is 34 points away from passing Ben Hartman for fourth on the career-scoring list. Dalton needs 38 field goals to move third place, ahead of Massey. Nine makes from beyond the arc moves Groskreutz into sixth place in front of Dan Stock. In free throws made, he needs one for eight place ahead of Donovan Plunkett, eight made to pass Jones for seventh place, and nine freebies to get into sixth place past Cole. Two rebounds moves him past Andy Palmer for ninth place and eight boards gets eighth place past current DSU assistant Kasey Winters. With two blocked shots, Groskreutz passes Troy Randall for ninth place and three swats will notch eighth place past Nick Howard. Senior wing Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) needs seven field goals to pass Bowie Jeffs for ninth on the career list and 14 makes to get into eighth place ahead of Johnny Little.

• CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS

> The Wildcats open the 2013 season after a pair of exhibition losses to Pac-12 schools - 93-56 at Washington and 95-65 at Washington State. CWU was 15-13 last year and lost in the second round of the GNAC Tournament to SPU.
> Central Washington was picked to finish fourth in the GNAC.
> CWU CWU returns two GNAC all-stars, senior guard Mark McLaughlin, who topped the conference in scoring (22.8) and forward JB Pillard who was fourth in field-goal percentage in the GNAC two years ago while playing at Northwest Nazarene.
> Greg Sparling enters his 19th full year at Ellensburg. He has compiled a 310-197 record for CWU.

LAST TIME VS. CWU, 2009: Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) scored 20 points and led four Dixie State College players in double figures as the Red Storm defeated Central Washington University 78-75 in day one action of the Northwest Nazarene Thanksgiving Classic at the Johnson Sports Center. Plunkett was 6-of-11 from the floor with four three-pointers in 31 minutes for Dixie State (2-0). Tom Whitehead (St. George. UT/Dixie) and Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) each chipped in 15 points while Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) scored 14 in his first start of the season. Robbins paced the Red Storm with nine rebounds and Adam Ross (Torrance. CA/North Torrance ) dished out a game-high five assists. Toussaint Tyler led the Wildcats with 16 points. J.C. Cook (15) and Humberto Perez (14) were the other two Central Washington (1-1) players in double figures. The teams shuffled the lead six times in the first half. Plunkett hit a three with 50 seconds left in the half to put Dixie State up by four at 32-38. After a pair of Palmer free throws, CWU's Cook drained a late triple to even the score at the break 34-34. Roby Clyde, a transfer from Snow College, sparked an opening 14-9 run for the Wildcats with a jumper and three free throws for CWU's biggest lead of the night at five points, 48-43. Plunkett tied the game again at 52-52 with a three-ball and DSC turned to the free throw line to build a lead. Robbins hit six freebies in-a-row while Palmer, Whitehead and Plunkett drained a pair over two minutes span. The lead ballooned to eight points with 4:54 left in the game after back to back jumpers from Ross and Whitehead. Central cut the DSC lead to two on a Tyler jumper and had the chance to tie the game on a Perez steal of the inbound pass. Plunkett preserved the lead with a final minute steal. Whitehead hit a pair of fouls shots and Kacen Smith (Saint George, UT/Dixie) hit a two with 15 seconds left to hold off the Wildcats. Dixie State shot 23-of-52 from the field (43.4%) and made 76% of their foul shots in the second half. Central won the close battle on the boards 38-37.

• SEATTLE PACIFIC FALCONS

> The Falcons are the No. 2 team in the NABC Coaches Poll. They are 3-0 on teh year after defeating CSUDH, Lindenwood and Texas A&M International at the Disney Tip-Off West Coast Classic. SPU was 27-4 last year and a West Regional finalist.
> SPU was selected as the preseason favorite to win the GNAC in 2013-14.
> David Downs was selected as GNAC Preseason Player of the Year. He led SPU avergaing 25 PPG at Disney last week. Patrick Simon and Riley Stockton were All-Conference selections as well.
> Ryan Looney is in his fifth year at SPU. He has a 95-28 record and has led Seattle Pacific to the NCAA West Region Final the past two years.

LAST TIME VS. SPU, 2012: Down 18 points early in the first half, the Dixie State College of Utah men's basketball staged a furious rally to lead at halftime. Despite the No. 6-seed's best efforts, Seattle Pacific University advance to the second round of the NCAA West Regionals with a 70-68 win over the Red Storm paced by a career-high 24 points from senior forward Jake Anderson. DSC saw its season end with three consecutive losses. The Red Storm finishes the 2011-12 campaign with a 20-7 overall record. Seattle Pacific (22-7) will face the winner of the Montana State-Billings/Alaska-Anchorage matchup on Saturday. Seniors Maurice Cole and Griffon Jones led Dixie State with 19 points each and junior guard McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) poured in 14. The Falcons sprinted out to leads of 12-0 and 20-2 behind the early torrent shooting of Anderson and David Downs (18 points). SPU maintained a 25-8 advantage at the under-12 media timeout, a point where the Storm made its first-half comeback due to solid defense out of a zone. Cole hit a pair of 3-pointers, Massey nailed a triple and Jones connected on the three field goals adding three free-throw shots to stage the rally. Off a Jones steal in the final minute of the half, Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) drove coast-to-coast for a lay-in and Dixie State's first lead at 38-37. Following a Downs jumper, Massey closed the half with a jumper just inside the arc for a 40-39 lead at intermission. The lead bounced back and forth in the early stages of the second half. SPU used a 7-0 run to take control midway through the half, 56-52. Massey led the Red Storm rebuttal with a lay-up and a 3-pointer. Anderson took over, scoring 15 of his points over the final 12 minutes, pushed the Falcons ahead by eight, 67-59 with 1:22 left with a huge triple. The SPU defensive zone employed in the second half stymied the Storm offense. The Storm pressured late with five straight points. Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) connected on a jumper in the paint, Massey connected from long-distance and forced a turnover on the subsequent inbound. Cole drew a foul and made one of two from the stripe. Down three with 23 seconds left, Massey and Cole each had looks from distance that feel short. A Cole 3-pointer at the buzzer decided the final margin in favor of the Falcons. Dixie State shot 40.7 percent from the floor (24-59) and 77.8 percent from the line (14-18). For the second consecutive game, an opposing team collected 10 3-point field goals (out of 25 attempts for SPU).