[PREVIEW] Bay Area swings ends with matinee against Argos

Dixie State travels to NDNU for fourth game in last seven days

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Dixie State (17-5, 12-2 PWC) at Notre Dame de Namur (5-16, 4-9 PWC)
Game Details	Saturday, Feb. 16 \| Belmont, CA \| 3:00 p.m. Mountain Gleason Gym
Game Coverage	TV: None \| Radio: ESPN SportsRadio 1210AM and 107.3/102.3 FM Dixie State All Access: Audio Live Stats: NDNU Stats Twitter: @DixieAthletics #DSCmbb
Dixie State Links	Notes \| Roster \| Schedule
NDNU Links	Notes \| Roster \| Schedule

LEAVING HEART AAND EFFORT IN SAN FRANCISCO: Dixie State College, the 19th-ranked team in the NABC National Poll, closes its four-game road trip in the Bay with a Saturday afternoon matchup with Notre Dame de Namur Tip from Gleason Gym is at 2 p.m Pacific (3 p.m. Mountain) . Live audio coverage will be available through Dixie State All Access at DixieAthletics.com/Showcase.

STORM WATCH: DSC cruised to its second-largest win on the road this season on Valentine's Night against Holy Names. The Storm are still in first place with a 12-2 league mark, 17-5 overall. Sophomore center Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) leads the Storm at 13.3 PPG and paces the PacWest with 8.7 rebounds a game. Junior forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) follows in scoring at 12.5 points per game. McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (11.8) and Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (10.9) follow next in scoring average. The Red Storm are first in the nation (D2) overall field goal percentage (52.6).

LAST TIME OUT: Junior forward Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) hit 13 of 16 shots from the floor en route to a career-high 28 points to lead 19^th-ranked Dixie State College to a 93-68 road win Thursday at Holy Names in Pacific West Conference play.

Larson's third 20-point effort of the year included nine rebounds, two higher than his individual high.

Dixie State (17-5, 12-2 PWC) bounced back after a tough Monday loss at Dominican with a 61.4 percent shooting night and a wire-to-wire victory in the first ever meeting with the Hawks (4-19, 1-13 PWC) at Tobin Gym.

Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) added 14 points in just 21 minutes played. Curtis Papenfuss (Happy Valley, OR/Clackamas) had three field goals and five free throws to notch 11 points off the bench. Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) chipped in 10 points – his eighth straight game in double figures – and six rebounds.

After opening with a 4-0 run, HNU hit a three to pull within two at 8-6. The Storm clamped down on defense and used the next 11 minutes to spurt out on a 23-5 run to build a 33-11 lead. The majority of the scoring came from the inside as Larson and Robbins combined for 17 first half points.

Dixie State held HNU to 20 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes to lead 42-16.

Another spurt of 7-0 opened the second half as the Storm led by as many as 37 early in the second half. HNU's Tyler Fry scored 17 second half points to end up pacing the Hawks with 20 points. Ian Collins went 7-for-9 from the floor for 17 points, all after the break.

Dixie State never saw the lead drop below 20 points over the final five minutes. All 12 players on the trip saw playing time and no player saw more than 25 minutes on the court. The Storm bested the battle of the boards 41-21, including 12 to seven on the offensive glass.

DSC shot a scorching 69 percent (20-29) in the second half and bested the 60 percent mark for the fifth time this year (35-57).

• NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR ARGONAUTS

> Notre Dame de Namur (5-16, 4-9 PWC) have lost seven straight games dating back to a home win on Jan. 16 against UH Hilo.
> Wesley White leads NDNU with 12.9 and 7.0 rebounds a game. The Argos are only scoring 59.1 points per game while allowing 68.1 points.
> Coach Puou is in his 12^th season as the NDNU men's basketball coach, compiling a 112-155 overall record. Puou led the Argos to a 12-14 record this past season while going 8-10 in PacWest play. The Argos were 10-4 at Walter Gleason Gym and pulled off a home sweep of the Hawaii schools. Puou's most successful season at NDNU came in 2004-05 when he led the Argos to an 18-13 overall record. The team went 13-3 in conference play and finished in second place. Prior to his arrival at NDNU, Puou was the assistant coach at St. Mary's College in Moraga.

RANKED!!!: For the first time in Division-II tenure, Dixie State College men's basketball cracked the Top 25 at No. 19 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches rankings released Tuesday.

“Getting into the top 25 in college sports is a pretty cool thing and yet, we can see as a team that there are things we can work on to improve,” junior forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) said. “Though it is a neat accomplishment, we hardly feel satisfied at this point. We need to continue to have a sense of urgency to improve and get better.”

Dixie State currently sits atop the standings in the Pacific West Conference with an 11-2 league mark and a 16-5 overall mark. The NABC rankings reflect games played as of Sunday, Feb. 10. In the Red Storm's case, it does not include Monday's conference loss at Dominican, 78-75.

DSC jumped up 12 spots from unofficially sitting at No. 31 last week in the “Others receiving votes” category. They were one of five teams jumping into the Top 25 after falling shy one week ago.

“It is nice that they (the coaches) see us as a good basketball team,” DSC head coach Jon Judkins said. “ I want to be ranked at the end of the year, when it counts.”

Dixie State looks to bounce back after its first loss in 10 games with two Pacific West Conference games – at Holy Names in Oakland on Thursday night and at Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday afternoon.

The next NABC poll will be released next Tuesday, Feb. 19.

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