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Utah Tech University Athletics

Groskreutz jumper
Rico Del Sesto for DSU Athletics

Men's Basketball John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

[PREVIEW] Storm host Las Vegas Challenge at Orleans Arena

NABC No. 8 DSU plays CSUDH and MSUB


MEDIA INFORMATION
Date Wed., Dec. 18 | 8:30 p.m. MT
Thurs., Dec. 19 | 7:30 p.m. MT
Location

Orleans Arena - Las Vegas, Nev.
Tickets Purchase Tickets
Radio ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM |
Dixie State All-Access
Radio Talent John Potter (play-by-play)
Live Audio/Video Dixie State All-Access
Live Stats Dixie State SideArm Stats
Game Notes Dixie State
Twitter @DixieAthletics #DixieMBB
DIXIE STATE RED STORM
Record 7-0, 3-0 PacWest
Ranking 8th (NABC)
Head Coach Jon Judkins
Career: 436-204 (20th year)
DSU Record: 152-81 (9th year)
CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS
Record 4-4, 1-2 CCAA
Ranking NR
Head Coach Damaine Powell
Record at CSUDH 156-134 (12th year)
MONTANA STATE-BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS
Record 4-4, 1-1 GNAC
Ranking NR
Head Coach Jamie Stevens
Record at MSUB: 38-30

WEST REGION MATCHUPS IN SIN CITY: The second-annual Las Vegas Challenge presents two West Region challenges for the Dixie State men's basketball team this Wednesday and Thursday at the Orleans Arena. DSU hosts the Toros of Cal State Dominguez Hills on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific and the Yellowjackets of Montana-State Billings on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m. The Challenge will feature the men of Academy of Art playing the same two schools while DSU, ART U, CSUDH and Western Oregon will compete on the women's side. The games 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 for Wednesday's contest. Links for live stats and online audio/video are found on DixieAthletics.com and DSU All-Access (DixieAthletics.com/showcase).

STORM STAYS AT EIGHT: With very little activity taking place in the NCAA Division II college basketball world last week, little change took place as a result when it came to the latest NABC/Division II rankings as the top 15 spots went unchanged and only two teams falling out of the top 25. West Liberty stayed in the top spot for the third week in a row, with Bellarmine, Drury, Florida Southern and Western Washington also holding onto their top five spots.  Metropolitan State remained at No. 6, followed by Indiana (Pa.), Dixie State, Southern Indiana and Montevallo to complete the top 10. The next five spots are retained by Tarleton State, East Stroudsburg, Livingstone, Seattle Pacific and Findlay. The first change comes at No. 16, as Arkansas-Fort Smith suffered its first loss of the year and fell out of the rankings as a result; their spot among the top 25 was taken by its conqueror, Angelo State.  Arkansas-Fort Smith's loss moved Minnesota State to No. 16 and Colorado School of Mines to 17th, while Georgia Southwestern jumped three spots to 18th.  Midwestern State and Lincoln Memorial remained in the 19th and 20th spots in the poll, respectively. The last five spots are held by Indianapolis, Angelo State, Franklin Pierce, North Alabama and Valdosta State, who like Angelo State, is making its first appearance in the national rankings this season.

LAST TIME OUT – DSU REMAINS UNBEATEN WITH COMEBACK EFFORT: Down by 15 points at the break and trailing by as many as 17 points early in the second half, the eighth ranked Dixie State men's basketball team staged a monumental comeback to edge visiting Point Loma, 84-82, in Pacific West Conference action inside the Burns Arena. The Red Storm bounced back from an abysmal 29.6 percent shooting effort in the first half to post an 18-of-30 effort in the final 20 minutes to improve to 7-0 overall and 3-0 within the PacWest. Point Loma, despite shooting an impressive 56.4 percent from the floor, fell to 6-4 on the year and 1-3 in league games. PLNU hit six of the first nine shots they took from distance in the first half to take a double-digit lead at the 7:48 mark. The double-figure advantage held into the last minute before DSU tried a push. DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV) hit a pair of charity shots to post 13 points in the opening half and cut the Sea Lions' lead to 10. Point Loma responded with a lay-up and a 3-pointer to tally a 43-28 halftime edge. The lead swelled to 17 on a Junior Morgan shot on the first possession of the second half. Dixie State then chipped away winning what head coach Jon Judkins calls the "four-minute battles", meaning the play between media timeouts. The first battle opened with a 5-0 DSU run on one of two Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT) 3-pointers in the game and a driving lay-in by Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT). With 15:22 left in regulation, the Storm had shaved seven points off the lead. DSU closed within five, 50-45, on another Payne scoop shot, but PLNU responded with five consecutive points to regain a 10-point lead. The Red Storm countered with a 5-0 spurt. Groskreutz nailed a triple and Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) (Cedar Hills, UT) netted a jumper. With 11:37 left in regulation, the Storm clipped another point off the lead. Clegg hit a corner 3-ball to narrow the gap to four. With 7:29 left in regulation, Payne's only connection from distance put the Storm within two, 62-60. Two free throws by Robbie Nielson (Gresham, OR/Barlow) (Gresham, OR) officially erased the Sea Lion halftime advantage right out of the under-eight minute media timeout and Nielson's baseline jumper gave DSU its first advantage since 2-0. Dixie State pushed the lead to four before a PLNU triple made it a 72-71 Stortm lead at the finale media timeout. Jordan Rex (Saint George, UT/Pine View) (Saint George, UT) completed a three-point play to build the lead to five before PLNU took their last lead with a 4-0 spurt. Groskreutz hit one of two free throws, snapping a string of 27 consecutive makes from the stripe, to  knot the game at 79-79 in the final minute. Off a DSU miss, Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA) corralled an offensive rebound and was fouled. He calmly made both free throws. PLNU committed a costly turnover on the next possession at the baseline. Groskreutz was tripped up and fouled driving to the lane on the subsequent possesion; he made both charity shots. Marek Klassen banked a 3-pointer with five ticks left, trimming the DSU lead to one, 83-82. Robbins was fouled immediately on the inbounds and made one of two shots. A last three-quarter court heave from Klassen fell short for PLNU. Payne posted a career-high 17 points, 15 in the second half, on 7-of-11 shooting and Thompson matched him on the scoresheet woth 17 points. Groskreutz and Robbins each added 15. Rex led DSU with seven rebounds. PLNU had four in double-figures with Klassen leading the way with 18 points. The Red Storm were out-rebounded, 32-26, but capitalized on 18 Sea Lion turnovers, converting the miscues into 24 points. PLNU bested the battle inside the paint, 38-24.

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 into sixth place passing Donovan Plunkett in the NDNU game. He needs 93 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 27 points to move into third place past McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson). Dalton needs 12 field goals to move third place, ahead of Massey. Four 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 26 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 one rebound to pass Hartman for seventh and 31 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 four 3-point field goals to pass Johnny Little for eighth on the career list.

• CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS TOROS

> Cal State Dominguez Hills is 4-4 on the season and 1-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. CSUDH won its last regular season game, 74-70, at Monterey Bay.  
> The Toros were selected to finish fifth in the CCAA preseason coaches vote.
> Former Baylor transfer Givon Crump leads the Toros at 17.3 points per game. Moriba DeFreitas pulls down a team-high 6.6 rebounds while Chris Carvin runs the office from the point guard spot with 31 assists.
> Damaine Powell is in his 10th year as head coach at CSUDH. He has compiled a 156-134 record.

LAST TIME vs. CSUDH, 2009: Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos), playing minutes away from his home in Compton, scored a game-high 16 points off the bench leading Dixie State to a convincing 72-59 road win over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday night. The Red Storm improves to 5-1 on the season and head coach Jon Judkins reached a coaching career milestone with his 350th victory on the bench. His 66 wins at Dixie State in six seasons combine with 284 triumphs with Snow College in the junior college ranks. Barnes shot 50-percent from the floor (6-12), stole three balls and dished out two assists in 24 solid minutes. Tom Whitehead (St. George. UT/Dixie) scored in double figures for the third straight game with 14 points and Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) added 11 points and three steals. Freshman post Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) ripped down eight rebounds. DSC built an early 13-4 lead hitting on five of their first six shots and never trailed. Dominguez Hills cut the lead to four, 19-15 with 10:25 left in the first half, before the Storm called a time out. Dixie State quickly restores their momentum out of the break with a 7-0 run pushing the advantage to double digits. CSUDH turned the ball over 15 times in the first half compared to just two for Dixie State. Led by Whitehead's eight points in the first half, DSC built a 39-22 lead at the half shooting 51-percent. The Toros began the second half on a 7-2 run but could never cut the Storm lead into single digits. Barnes hit a free throw at the 11:50 mark to build the DSC lead to 23 points.  Dixie State saw freshman guard Kacen Smith (Saint George, UT/Dixie) leave the game early in the second half with an injury after playing five minutes. Smith had two points, two rebounds and a critical steal at the end of the first half leading to a buzzer-beating layup. Tim McLaurin scored 13 points for the Toros, now 0-6 on the season. Zareh Zargaryan notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

• MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS

> MSU Billings is 4-4 on the season after splitting their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opening games last week. The Yellowjackets defeated Central Washington at home, 82-67, before dropping a 63-61 decision to Northwest Nazarene.  
> MSUB was selected to finish seventh in the GNAC preseason coaches vote. DSU has already played three of the top-six in the GNAC – Seattle Pacific, Central Washington and Western Oregon.
> Four players average double figures in scoring led by senior transfer Jonathan Mesghna at 13.6 points per game. Kalob Hatcher paces the GNAC with 6.6 assists per game.
> Jamie Stevens is in his third year at MSUB.

LAST TIME vs. MSUB, 2012: Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) made all 11 shots he took Friday night en route to a career-high 25 points. Dixie State shot a program-best 70.9 percent from the field in defeating the host Yellowjackets of MSU Billings 90-77 in Alterowitz Gymnasium. Larson was one of four players to have a perfect shooting night for the Red Storm (3-0). Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) (St George, UT/Dixie) was 6-of-6 for 12 points in 13 minutes. Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) had 10 points on five shots while DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (4-4 FG) added nine points. The Red Storm, six days removed from shooting over 60 percent in a home win over Colorado Mesa, dominated the paint all night to the sound of a 50 to eight advantage. Dixie State hit 39 of 55 shots to eclipse the previous high of 64 percent in a 2010 game at Notre Dame de Namur. Hot shooting was needed since the Yellowjackets (1-1) scored their first 12 points from behind the arc. After MSUB closed the lead to four, 27-23, at the 9:51 mark, the Jackets failed to make a basket for over four and a half minutes. The Red Storm used the opposing drought to go on an 8-0 run sparked by four lay-ups. A late three-ball from Cameron Cusworth put the DSC halftime advantage at 47-39. Larson and Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (19 points) went to work in the second half extending the lead to 14 points by scoring the team's first eight points of the half. MSUB would close with nine at the 13:38 mark before the Storm outscored the Jackets 20-10 behind three straight shots by Groskreutz, three-balls from McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Payson, UT/Payson) and Thompson and a lay-in from Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak). The final field goal came with 2:28 left on a beautiful extra pass assist from Massey to Groskreutz in the corner for three. Omar McDade and Sam Johnson led the Yellowjackets with 17 points each.


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