Men's Basketball 12/3/2013 2:31:00 PM John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

[PREVIEW] Men's hoops open PacWest defense in California

Thursday at NDNU, Saturday at FPU

MEDIA INFORMATION
Date	Thurs., Dec. 5 \| 8:30 p.m. MT Sat., Dec. 7 \| 5:30 p.m. MT
Location	Gleason Gym - Belmont, Calif. Special Events Center - Fresno, Calif.
Tickets	Purchase Tickets
Radio	ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM \| Dixie State All-Access
Radio Talent	John Potter (play-by-play)
Live Audio	Dixie State All-Access
Live Stats/Video (NDNU)	NDNU GameCentral
Live Stats/Video (FPU)	FPU GameCentral
Game Notes	Dixie State
Twitter	@DixieAthletics #DixieMBB
DIXIE STATE RED STORM
Record	4-0
Ranking	10th (NABC)
Head Coach	Jon Judkins
	Career: 433-204 (20th year)
	DSU Record: 149-81 (9th year)
NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR ARGONAUTS
Record	1-5
Ranking	NR
Head Coach	George Puou
	Career: 113-160 (12th year) Record at NDNU: Same
FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS
Record	5-3
Ranking	NR
Head Coach	Chris Wright
	Career: 61-39 (3rd year) Record at FPU: Same

CONFERENCE PLAY BEGINS AT NDNU, FPU: The quest for a fifth consecutive Pacific West Conference men's basketball championship begins this week as Dixie State travels to northern and central California for a pair of league games. On Thursday, Dec. 5, DSU faces Notre Dame de Namur at 8:30 p.m. MT inside Gleason Gym. Two days later, the Storm travel to the site of one of their two league road losses last season to face Fresno Pacific at 5:30 p.m. MT. Both games will have live radio coverage on ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM with John Potter providing the play-by-play action. Links for live stats and video are found on DixieAthletics.com

TOP TEN: For the first time in school history, the Dixie State men's basketball team has cracked the Top 10 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II rankings. The Red Storm checks in at No. 10 in Tuesday's release of the Week 3 poll. Dixie State defeated Pacifica in an exhibition, 107-44, during the only game of the week. DSU is 4-0 on the year, off to the program's best start since becoming an NCAA institution in 2006. The Red Storm face two road games this week – Thursday at Notre Dame de Namur and Saturday at Fresno Pacific. -- A team that has spent a good deal of time as the nation's top-ranked team in recent seasons is back on the top of the list, as West Liberty has supplanted Metropolitan State as the No. 1 team in the latest NABC/Division II rankings. Metro State dropped a 72-69 decision Saturday at then-No. 7 Western Washington, moving West Liberty to the top spot as a result. It marks the fifth time since 2011 that the Hilltoppers are the nation's top-ranked squad, where they have spent 20 previous weeks in that position. The loss by the Roadrunners also allowed Bellarmine, Drury and Florida Southern to move up in the rankings to the three spots in back of West Liberty, while Western Washington jumped over Metro State into the fifth spot with the Roadrunners in sixth. Indiana (Pa.) jumped to seventh in this week's poll, followed by Findlay, Minnesota State and Dixie State to complete the top 10. Southern Indiana checked in at No. 11, with Montevallo, Livingstone, Tarleton State and Fort Hays State taking the next four spots. Seattle Pacific fell seven spots to 16th after a loss Saturday at Chico State, while the top 20 spots are completed with East Stroudsburg, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Colorado School of Mines and Midwestern State. The final five teams include four making their first appearance in the rankings this season. Bentley is No. 21 and Washburn is at No. 22, while Lincoln Memorial dropped 10 spots to 23rd. The last two are undefeated teams from Georgia Southwestern and Texas A&M-Commerce.

LAST TIME OUT – DSU OVERWHELMS PACIFICA IN EXHIBITION: Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) scored 20 points to pace five players in double figures as No. 12 Dixie State overwhelmed Pacifica College, 107-44, in an exhibition game Saturday night inside the Burns Arena. The Red Storm closed out their exhibition schedule with an unblemished 3-0 mark. Previously they shocked UNLV in Las Vegas on Nov. 1 (71-70) and routed St. Katherine College at Home on Nov. 9 (107-64). Robbins played only 18 minutes, but paced all scorers hitting on 10-of-11 shots from the field. Three field goals came on dunks. Starting guard DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) added 14 points and forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) scored 12. Off the bench, Landon Clegg (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) (Cedar Hills, UT/Lone Peak) and Louis Garrett (Saint George, UT/Pine View) (Saint George, UT/Pine View) each had 11 points. Dixie State opened the game on an 11-1 run. Pacifica closed within three at the 13:00 mark, but the Red Storm rattled off a 19-0 run over four minutes to lead 36-14. A late Clegg 3-pointer posted the halftime score at 60-30. In the second half, a lay-in by Jordan Rex (Saint George, UT/Pine View) (Saint George, UT/Pine View) pushed the lead to 40 points. The second of three Clegg triples handed DSU a 50-point lead, 89-39. Two free throws by Nate Ensign (American Fork, UT/American Fork) (American Fork, UT/American Fork) posted the Storm's 100th point at the 6:15 mark and ballooned the lead to 60, 103-43, two minutes later. DSU shot 60.8-percent from the floor (45-74), including 7-of-14 from behind the 3-point arc. Pacifica was held to 17-of-67 (25.4 percent) overall after a cold 6-of-35 performance in the second half. Alex Mendiola netted 15 points for the Gladiators.

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 one steal to get into fourth place past Maurice Cole, and eight 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 seventh place on the all-time scoring list during the SPU tournament – he needs two points to pass Donovan Plunkett for sixth place and 107 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 65 points to move into third place past McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson). Dalton needs 21 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 needs nine free throws for fifth place past Kasey Winters. Dalton passes Andy Palmer for ninth place and Winters in eighth in rebounding over the SPU tourney – he needs 12 rebounds to pass Hartman for seventh and 43 boards to claim sixth ahead of Massey. With one blocked shot, Groskreutz passes 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 two 3-point field goals to pass Bowie Jeffs for ninth on the career list and nine makes to get into eighth place ahead of Johnny Little.

• NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR ARGOS

> The Argonauts are 1-5 on the season after splitting two games while hosting a Thanksgiving tournament. NDNU downed Caldwell College, 69-62, on the opening night before falling to Arizona Christian on night two, 66-58.
> Notre Dame de Namur was selected to finish 12th in the Pacific West Conference preseason coaches vote.
> Point guard Simon Enciso leads the Argos in points (12.8) and assists (5.8). Micah Dunhour pulls down 6.0 rebounds a game.
> George Puou is in his 12th year in Belmont. He has compiled a 113-160 record at the helm of the Argonauts.

LAST TIME vs. NDNU, 2013: It may be time for Dixie State forward Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) to look for a new Twitter handle. The junior known by those in the online world as @KidLarson has stepped up his game and played like a man over the last two ballgames. Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame de Namur, Larson broke the DSU single-game scoring record with 33 points and added a career-high tying nine rebounds in the Red Storm's 66-61 road win over the Argonauts in Pacific West Conference action. Larson made 12-of-15 attempts from the floor and knocked home each of his nine free throws attempts to best the previous single-game record of 32 points set by current DSU assistant coach Ryan Sanchez (Ogden. UT/Fremont) twice – including five years ago in Gleason Gym against NDNU (5-17, 4-10). Dixie State completed its four-game, eight-day trip to the Bay Area with a 3-1 mark – bolstering its overall record to 18-5 and 13-2 in the PacWest.The outcome hung in the balance as the Argos played physical and pressure-filled defense against the Storm for most of the game. NDNU flourished after a 35-35 halftime stalemate using a 17-8 run to take their biggest lead, 52-43, at the 12:45 mark. Dixie State answered the challenge responding with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes. Larson began the charge with a key bucket plus a foul. Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) hit DSU's lone 3-pointer of the game on the next possession en route to 12 points. DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) drew a foul and nailed both free throws to pull within a point, 52-51. NDNU built its last advantage with their ninth 3-pointer of the game at the 8:44 mark, 59-54. From the point on, the Argos missed their final nine shots while the Red Storm responded with a closing run. A trio of free throws from Groskreutz and Larson cut the lead to one. With 5:48 left on the clock, Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) flipped in a right-handed hook shot to give DSU a lead the would not relinquish. The bucket gave Robbins his ninth consecutive game in double figures (10 pts.). Larson notched the final six points of the game on a pair of jumpers and two free throws to give him the record. The Storm was held below their nation-leading field goal percentage, making 24-of-49 shot for 49 percent. They missed just two free throws accounting for 17 points from the stripe. Freshman guard James Northup with 15 points led NDNU.

• FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS

> Fresno Pacific is 5-3 on the year after winning two of three games at the Alaska Invitational (Nov. 21-23). FPU defeated Emporia State (72-70) and the University of Mary (67-64) before falling to the host Alaska Fairbanks, 83-72.
> The Sunbirds are lead by talented guard Malcolm Griffin – 18.8 points, 5.8 assists, 2.1 steals per game. FPU was selected to finish second in the PacWest preseason vote. The team features 10 new players on the roster.
> Chris Wright is in year three at FPU. He has a 61-39 record, including an undefeated mark at home last season (13-0).

LAST TIME vs. FPU, 2013: Five Dixie State players scored in double figures, led by a double-double performance by Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland), to aid the home team to a 106-91 victory in Pacific West Conference action Tuesday night inside the Burns Arena. The Red Storm extended its season-long wining streak to eight games and avenged its lone loss in the PacWest at the hand of the Sunbirds (14-7, 9-4 PWC) to improve to 15-4 on the year and 10-1 in league. FPU straddled Dixie State with an 82-80 loss in Fresno on Dec. 8. Robbins hit 10 of 15 shots for 22 points, added 13 rebounds and swatted away six blocks. The sophomore recorded his second double-double against the Sunbirds the year exploiting a sizable advantage for the Storm within the paint. Consistently pounding the ball to forwards and centers in and around the block accounted for 54 of the team's 106 points inside the key. The teams excelled in two different styles of play for the majority of the first half. FPU used its excellent athleticism for drives toward the hoop. The offense ran primarily through Malcolm Griffin and John Taylor as the duo tallied 26 of the Sunbirds' 37 first-half points. Dixie State took control of the game over the final 9:54 of the first half. Tied 25-25 at that point, the Storm outscored FPU 26-12 to take a 51-37 into the break. An 11-3 run with a pair of McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Payson, UT/Payson) lay-ins and four consecutive points by Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) gave DSC its largest advantage, 62-40, at the 17:02 mark. The Sunbirds began a large comeback using and 13-1 run over the next 3:05 and extending the string to a 23-7 advantage over a 6:26 span to pull within six points, 69-63. At a similar point to the first half – the 9:26 mark of the second – Dixie State extended another six-point edge to 17 with a critical 27-16 run. DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) scored six of career-high 17 points in the run that also featured a strong right hand jam from Robbins. After topping the 100-point mark on a Massey layin with 2:44 remaining, iced the game away with free throws from Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) and Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak). Groskreutz notched his second 20-point effort of the year on 8-of-12 shooting while doling out five assists. Massey scored 18 points, passing former forward Ben Hartman for third place on the Dixie State all-time scoring list. Larson rounded out a quintet in double figures with 10 points. The Red Storm shot a blistering 70.5 percent for the night (43-61) while holding the Sunbirds to 32-of-87 (36.8 percent). Taylor led all scorers with 36 points on 11-of-35 from the floor. Griffin had 25 points, eight boards and six assists. Off the bench, Anthony Brant had 11.

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