[PREVIEW] Home PacWest opener Saturday with Point Loma

8th ranked Storm back in action at the Burns Arena

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MEDIA INFORMATION
Date	Sat., Dec. 14 \| 3:30 p.m. MT
Location	Burns Arena (4,779) St. George, UTah
Tickets	Purchase Tickets
Radio	ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM \| Dixie State All-Access
Radio Talent	John Potter (play-by-play), Devin Dixon (analysis)
Live Audio/Video	Dixie State All-Access
Live Stats	Dixie State Live Stats
Game Notes	Dixie State
Twitter	@DixieAthletics #DixieMBB
DIXIE STATE RED STORM
Record	6-0, 2-0 PacWest
Ranking	8th (NABC)
Head Coach	Jon Judkins
	Career: 446-204 (20th year)
	DSU Record: 152-81 (9th year)
POINT LOMA SEA LIONS
Record	6-3, 1-2 PacWest
Ranking	NR
Head Coach	Bill Carr
	PLNU Record: 32-34 (3rd year)

HOME LEAGUE OPENER WELCOMES SEA LIONS TO THE BURNS: With two wins on the road in the rearview mirror, Dixie State men's basketball opens up their Pacific West Conference schedule with a Saturday matinee with the Sea Lions of Point Loma Nazarene University. At 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 14, the nationally ranked Red Storm tip with PLNU inside the Burns Arena in the final PacWest game in the 2013 calendar year. The game will have live radio coverage on ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM with John Potter providing the play-by-play action and Devin Dixon providing analysis. Links for live stats and online audio/video are found on DixieAthletics.com and DSU All-Access (DixieAthletics.com/showcase).

EIGHT IS GREAT: The top seven spots went unchanged this week in the new NABC/Division II rankings as many institutions at the NCAA Division II level have gone into their final examinations week with limited play until at least the upcoming weekend. West Liberty retained the top spot in the rankings with a pair of conference victories last week, while Bellarmine, Drury, Florida Southern and Western Washington all remained in the top five as well. Metropolitan State stayed in the sixth spot and Indiana (Pa.) holds at No. 7 before the first change occurred, with Dixie State moving to its highest-ever ranking at No. 8 with its 6-0 start. Southern Indiana and Montevallo moved into the top 10 for the first time this year as well at ninth and tenth, respectively, while Tarleton State moved up as well to No. 11. East Stroudsburg checked in at the No. 12 position and Livingstone held at No. 13, while Seattle Pacific moved up a couple of spots to 14th. Findlay suffered its first loss of the season Saturday at Northwood and fell to No. 15 as a result, while Arkansas-Fort Smith moved ahead of Minnesota State after the Mavericks were knocked off by Winona State Saturday. Colorado School of Mines holds the No. 18 place ahead of three others that moved up this week, Midwestern State, Lincoln Memorial and Georgia Southwestern. North Carolina-Pembroke and Indianapolis—both undefeated on the year -- moved into the rankings for the first time this season, while Franklin Pierce and North Alabama returned to complete this week's top 25.

LAST TIME OUT – STORM DEFEAT FRESNO PACIFIC: Louis Garrett (Saint George, UT/Pine View) (Saint George, UT) scored 17 points and Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA) notched his 15th career double-double to lead No. 10 Dixie State past Fresno Pacific, 85-80, in Pacific West Conference play on Saturday night. Dixie State improved to 6-0 on the season, its best start since joining the NCAA ranks in 2006, and 2-0 in the PacWest. The Red Storm avenged an early league loss to the Sunbirds (5-4, 0-1) 364 days ago with the five-point victory. Garrett hit four 3-pointers in 24 minutes off the bench and had a momentum swinging steal and lay-in with 55 seconds left in regulation to put DSU up three. Robbins only hit four of 12 shots from the floor, but corralled 15 rebounds in his double-double effort. DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV) added 15 points including a driving lay-up during the Red Storm's closing 9-2 run. Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT) had 14 points and six assists while Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT) added 14 points and four rebounds. Dixie State trailed early in the first half, but took the lead for the first time on a Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan) (West Jordan, UT) triple midway through the first half. Minutes later, the Red Storm built a 33-25 lead after a 9-0 spurt thanks to 3-pointer from Thompson and Payne. The DSU lead got as high as 10 before the road team settled for a halftime advantage of 46-38. The Sunbirds wasted no time in the second half cutting Dixie State's lead to one, 52-51, but the Storm responded with a 6-0 run to build the advantage back to seven points. FPU kept close and regained the lead over a four-minute period outscoring DSU 12-2. Jackson Carbajal nailed a deep shot to give FPU a 78-76 lead with 1:11 left. In the final minute, Payne began the charge with a driving lay-in and was fouled. His free throw put DSU up, 79-78. Storm coach Jon Judkins called time to set up his defensive scheme; it turns out he did not need it. Garrett stole the inbounds pass after the break and kissed a short shot off the glass. Malcolm Griffin responded for FPU with a jumper. Groskreutz dished a perfect pass to Thompson driving to the bucket for another lay-up for a 83-80 lead. Griffin lifted a potential equalizer from outside that deflected off the rim and into the hands off Robbins, who was immediately fouled. Two crucial fouls shots later; DSU had a large enough cushion for victory. Griffin led the way for Fresno Pacific with 23 points. Trevon Clayon added 18 points. Dixie State shot a season-low 41.4 percent (29-70) from the floor, but wrangled 20 offensive rebounds. The Red Storm finished the game 8-of-17 from distance (47.1 percent) and connected on 19-of-24 shots from the charity stripe (79.2 percent).

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 passed Maurice Cole into fourth place and needs six steals to move into third ahead of Dan Stock. Junior forward Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland), already the DSU leader in career blocks, moved in to sixth place passing Donovan Plunkett in the NDNU game. He needs 108 points to pass Ben Hartman for fifth. Robbins became the all-time rebounding leader past current DSU assistant Ryan Sanchez and offensive rebounding leader, passing Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie), with 15 rebounds (5 offensive) at Western Oregon. Senior forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) passed Hartman for fourth on the career-scoring list and needs 42 points to move into third place past McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson). Dalton needs 16 field goals to move third place, ahead of Massey. Six makes from beyond the arc moves Groskreutz into sixth place in front of Dan Stock. In free throws made, he moved into fifth place past Kasey Winters and needs 31 charity shots to pass Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) for fourth. Dalton passed Andy Palmer for ninth place and Winters in eighth in rebounding over the SPU tourney – he needs five rebounds to pass Hartman for seventh and 36 boards to claim sixth ahead of Massey. With one blocked shot, Groskreutz tied Troy Randall for ninth place and two swats will notch eighth place past Nick Howard. Junior guard DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) needs six 3-point field goals to pass Johnny Little for eighth on the career list.

• POINT LOMA SEA LIONS

> Point Loma is 6-2 on the season after knocking off St. Katherine College, 90-58, on Tuesday. The Sea Lions are 1-2 in the Pacific West - beating Holy Names and dropping close contests to ART U and Dominican.
> PLNU was selected to finish ninth in the Pacific West Conference preseason coaches vote.
> Four players average double figures in scoring. Topping the list is Hayden Lescault (16.1), who redshirted last season.
> Bill carr is in his third year as head coach for Point Loma.

LAST TIME vs. PLNU, 2013: After spotting the hosts of Point Loma University a 5-0 lead, Dixie State University went on an 11-point spurt and never looked back. The Red Storm won its fourth consecutive Pacific West Conference regular season title Saturday after defeating PLNU, 68-47, at Golden Gymnasium. The win notched DSU's fourth consecutive 20-win season and locked up the number one seed in the upcoming PacWest Conference Tournament. Dixie State closed the regular season with a 20-6 overall record and takes the PWC crown with a 15-3 league mark. Tiebreakers pointed in the Storm's direction with season series advantages over Grand Canyon and Chaminade. Sophomore guard DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) led all scorers with 16 points filling in the starting rotation for an injured Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon). Sophomore forward Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) notched his seventh double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) added 14 points, eighth rebounds and two steals. Robbins began the initial DSU run with a lay-in at the 15:54 mark. A second short shot gave the Storm its first lead after McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Payson, UT/Payson) nailed a jumper. Freshman guard Brandon Simister (St. George, UT/Desert Hills) (St. George, UT/Desert Hills) capped the rally with a floater and a 3-pointer. A lay-in at the 7:50 mark put PLNU (5-21, 2-16 PWC) within eight, 23-15. Dixie State held the Sea Lions without a bucket for the next 7:02 while opening up the game with a 16-0 run. Thompson and Larson combined for the first 12 points. Thompson nailed his two long-range makes during the string while Larson had two layups and a couple of free throws. Dixie State led at the break, 39-17, shooting 62.5 percent from the floor and 5-of-7 from distance. Stifling DSU defense held Point Loma to 6-of-32 in the first half, including a 1-of-16 clip from arc. The Sea Lions closed the lead to 19 on a couple of occasions, but Dixie State hit for 50 percent of their second half shots (12-24) to keep PLNU at bay. On the night, the Red Storm bested its nation-leading field goal percentage with a 27-of-48 night from the floor (56.3 percent) and hit 6-of-10 from 3-point land.

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