[PREVIEW] Storm look for redemption against the Sunbirds

Dixie State's lone PWC loss came against FPU in December

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Dixie State (14-4, 8-1 PWC) vs. Fresno Pacific (14-6, 9-3 PWC)
Game Details	Tuesday, Feb. 5 \| St. George, UT \| 7:30 p.m. Mountain Burns Arena
Game Coverage	TV: CEC-TV \| Radio: ESPN SportsRadio 1210AM and 107.3/102.3 FM Dixie State All Access: Audio and Video Live Stats: DSC Live Stats Twitter: @DixieAthletics #DSCmbb
Dixie State Links	Notes \| Roster \| Schedule
FPU Links	Notes \| Roster \| Schedule

A CHANCE TO REDEEM THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Dixie State College has one loss in Pacific West Conference play this season - and

the team responsible for that loss comes to the Burns Arena on Tuesday night. The Red Storm will play the white-hot Sunbirds of Fresno Pacific (14-6, 9-3 PWC) at 7:30 p.m. Mountain inside the Burns Arena. Live audio and video coverage will be available through Dixie State All Access at DixieAthletics.com/Showcase.

STORM WATCH: DSC has won seven consecutive games to open up a small advantage in Pacific West Conference play with a 9-1 league mark, 14-4 overall. Sophomore center Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) leads the Storm at 12.7 PPG and paces the PacWest with 8.7 rebounds a game. Senior guard McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) follows in scroing at 12.6 points per game. Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (11.9) and Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) (10.3) follow next in scoring average. The Red Storm are first in the nation (D2) in 3-point percentage (43.7) and third in overall field goal percentage (51.3).

LAST TIME OUT: The stage was set Saturday for Grand Canyon to pull off another buzzer beater against Dixie State under the bright lights of the GCU Arena. In a scene that could have seamlessly fit in the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day”, the Lopes had a shot at the end of the game to win.

But, when Joshua Lowery's 12-foot jumper from the left elbow ricocheted off the front iron and into the hands of McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson), Dixie State College successfully completed what 13 others teams could not do this season – defeat the Lopes on their home court.

Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) had 14 points and nine rebounds leading Dixie State to a 65-64 win in Pacific West Conference play.

Dixie's seventh straight win snapped GCU's 23-game home winning streak dating back to December 17, 2011. The Red Storm improved to 14-4 on the year and 9-1 in the PacWest.

GCU opened the game with the first four points before Dixie State made its next four shots en route to a 9-0 run. Shooting went cold for the Storm after that, connecting on 3 of the next 17 attempts. GCU took a five-point lead, 30-25, at the half thanks to a combined 19 points from Jerome Garrison and Blake Davis.

After surrendering the opening bucket of the second half, Dixie State went on another 9-0 run to take the lead, 34-32.

The half saw seven lead changes including the Lopes going back ahead 43-41 at the 14:45 mark. DSC began a momentum shifting 10-0 run with a Robbins lay-in and capped it with five free throws from Brandon Simister (St. George, UT/Desert Hills), DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) and Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie).

DSC built its lead to as many as nine, but GCU rallied back within three points on a couple of occasion. A Robbins jumper with 1:10 accounted for the last DSC points and a 65-60 lead.

GCU got a 3-pointer from Justin Foreman to cut the lead to two. After a Davis steal, Lowery was fouled and had a chance to tie the game with charity shots. Lowery made the first, but missed the second. The rebound fell into the hand of Garrison and set up the final play for GCU.

Lowery took the inbound, drove off a screen and fired from the elbow. The shot fell short and accounted for Massey's eighth rebound.

Owen had nine points and Thompson added eight helping the Red Storm bench outscore GCU's 23-15.

Dixie State shot 52 percent (13-25) in the second half to salvage a 43 percent shooting night (20-46). The nation's leading 3-point percentage club hit four of nine (44.4 percent) from distance and went 75 percent from the foul line (21-28).

The battle of the boards ended in a 34-34 stalemate, despite GCU corralling 14 offensive rebounds. Garrison led three GCU players in double figures with 16 points.

• FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS

> The Sunbirds enter Tuesday's league game asone of the hottest teams in the PacWest. Winners of seven straight, FPU is 14-6 on the year and 9-3 in league. Over the streak, Fresno Pacific has averaged 98.2 points per game while holding opponents to 81 PPG.
> Last year's National JUCO Player of the Year, John Taylor is leading FPU in scoring at 23.4 points per game. Three others aslo average double figures - Malcolm Griffin (17.4), Matt Samuels (13.0) and Antonio Credit (11.4).
> Chris Wright is in his third season as the head basketball coach at Fresno Pacific. He has posted a 40-31 record, including just the seventh 20-win season in the program's history, despite losing nine seniors from the previous year.

JUDKINS ON FPU: We are excited for the chance to play them on our home court. The are very athletic and a lot of guys have the green light to shoot. They really jump at you and get into you. If you can't handle the pressure, the will eat you alive. They love to go on runs, we have to control that. If we keep control of the ball, run our stuff and keep them in front of us - that will be key. They love to dribble penetrate, but if they miss a shot, we have to rebound.

BUZZER BEATEN IN FRESNO (LAST MEETING, 2012): Dating back to the exhibition season, all but one of Dixie State College's losses have a similar theme – the loss of a lead in the final minutes. Saturday night was no different.

Fresno Pacific's Malcolm Griffin knocked home a baseline floater to beat the buzzer and hand the Red Storm an 82-80 loss in league play.

Dixie State drops its third straight road game and first in Pacific West Conference action (5-3, 2-1) after holding a five-point lead with 3:17 left in the second half. The Sunbirds improved to 6-4 and 1-1 in the PacWest.

Inside the paint is where Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) excelled against the Sunbirds. The reigning PWC Player of the Week set career-highs with 26 points (on 13-of-18 shooting) and 18 rebounds. Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) (St George, UT/Dixie) added eight points and seven boards.

Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) and McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Payson, UT/Payson) each added 15 points.

FPU answered the call after Dixie State had a pair of five-point advantages early. A 15-5 spurt sparked by the play off the bench by Trevon Clayton and a massive dunk by Antonio Credit gave the Sunbirds a 28 lead.

Dixie State chipped away as the first half came to a close. FPU guard John Taylor hit a rainbow three with nine second before the break to snatch momentum, only to have Massey find space on the wing and drain a rebuttal triple to knot the halftime score at 45-45.

In a reversal from the first half, FPU too as much as a six-point lead early in the second half and kept control of the scoreboard until the Red Storm tied the game back up at 69-69 on a Steven Larson (South Jordan, UT/Copper Hills) layup. The bucket, part of a 9-1 run, sparked the DSC offense.

Up five, FPU's press forced DSC point guard Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) into three late turnovers. Over the final span, the Storm only took two field goal shots, both which were missed.

Griffin scored 16 of his team-leading 22 points in the second half, including three triples. He took the outlet pass after an Owen free-throw attempt to give DSC the lead fell off the rim and drove up the right sideline. With his defender beat, the guard/forward pulled up near the right elbow and floated home the game-winner.

HOT SHOOTING AND DEFENSE EQUALS WINS: How important is outshooting your opponent in a game? DSC is 15-3 this season when their field goal percentage is better than an opponent. In the Judkins' era, the Storm have won 104 of 117 games topping the FG% stat.

MAC MANIA: For the third straight week, Dixie State's senior shooting guard McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) has been highlighted as one of the best performers in the Pacific West Conference.

Massey was named to the Fantastic 15 for the fourth time this season.

McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Sr., 6-2, 185, G, Payson, UT/Payson) – Dixie State – unleashed 23 points on 58.3% shooting from the field in the Red Storm's lone game of the week – a 67-59 win over Azusa Pacific on Jan. 26…made 7 of 12 attempts from the floor…connected on 6 of 8 (75.0%) attempts from the line.

He had 12 of his career-high 23 points in the second half. He paced the Red Storm with five points over the final 4:04 – a stretch where Dixie State outpaced Azusa Pacific with a 10-2 closing run.

Malcolm Griffin of Fresno Pacific became the second Sunbird in as many weeks to claim the Player of the Week award. He led FPU to a pair of wins over BYU-Hawaii and Hawai'i Pacific averaging 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and six steals for the week.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS: McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) needs 16 points to pass Ben Hartman (763) for 3rd on the all-time scoring list, 50 3-pointers to pass Tom Whitehead (145) for 1st place, four assists to pass Maurice Cole (Norwalk, CA/Santa Fe) (223) for 2nd place and 19 to pass Dan Stock (238) for 1st. Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) needs nine rebounds to pass Tom Whitehead (360) for 2nd on the career list and eight blocks to pass Tom Whitehead (74) for 1st place. Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) needs 18 rebounds to pass Griffon Jones (Cheney, WA/Cheney) (310) for 4th place. Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) needs three points to pass Griffon Jones (Cheney, WA/Cheney) (616) for 6th, 16 3-pointers to pass Dan Stock (71) for 6th place and 17 shots to pass Ben Hartman (72) for 5th place.

NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED: The Dixie State men's basketball team is back in the “Others receiving votes” section of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division-II Top 25 poll for the first time since Thanksgiving. With six votes, DSC sits 37th in the country. Previously, the Red Storm topped out at No. 31 in the week one NABC poll before losing a pair of games in Grand Junction, Colo., to Fort Lewis (currently ranked No. 14) and Colorado Mesa (RV). A third opponent DSC has beaten, Central Missouri, has also received votes in the latest poll.

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