Men's Basketball 1/10/2014 12:00:00 PM John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

[PREVIEW] Red Storm return home for @ThePacWest games with APU, FPU

Saturday, Monday games at 7:30 p.m. in the Burns

Tweet #DixieMBB

MEDIA INFORMATION
Date	Sat., Jan. 11 \| 7:30 p.m. MT Mon., Jan 13 \| 7:30 p.m. MT
Location	Burns Arena - 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	11-1, 5-1 PacWest
Ranking	7th (NABC)
Head Coach	Jon Judkins
	Career: 440-205 (20th year)
	DSU Record: 156-82 (9th year)
AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS
Record	7-4, 3-2 PacWest
Ranking	NR
Head Coach	Justin Leslie
	Record at APU: 149-63 (7th year)
FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS
Record	5-9, 0-5 PacWest
Ranking	NR
Head Coach	Chris Wright
	Record at FPU: 61-44 (3rd year)

STORM HOST COUGARS, SUNBIRDS: Dixie State (11-1/5-1 PacWest) returns home to host Azusa Pacific (7-4/3-2) on Saturday night and Fresno Pacific (5-8/0-5) on Monday, both games at 7:30 p.m. Mountain inside the Burns Arena. The Red Storm will try and bounce back from their first loss of the year in the finale of a three-game Hawaiian road swing. 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. CEC-Television will air the game in the St. George-area on Baja channel 22. Links for live stats and online audio/video are found on DixieAthletics.com and DSU All-Access (DixieAthletics.com/showcase).

DSU HOLDS AT NO. 7, FOR NOW: The top 10 spots remained the same this week in the first NABC/Division II poll of the 2014 calendar year, but plenty of changes took place after that with a number of teams falling in the opening week of play following the holiday break. West Liberty retains the top spot in the rankings, while Bellarmine and Drury – who will face one another Thursday in Louisville, Ky. – hold the next two spots. Florida Southern checks in again at No. 4 this week and Metropolitan State, who will have a showdown of its own Saturday when it hosts No. 11 Colorado School of Mines, stays at No. 5. Indiana (Pa.) is sixth again this week and Dixie State, whose loss Monday at Hawaii Pacific is not reflected in this week's rankings as only games through Sunday are factored in, is seventh. Southern Indiana, Tarleton State and East Stroudsburg complete the top ten ahead of Colorado School of Mines, who moved up two spots this week along with Minnesota State. Montevallo is up four spots to 13th and Cal State-San Bernardino jumped five to 14th in this week's poll, while Lincoln Memorial comes in at No. 15. Franklin Pierce and Lewis also moved up in the rankings to 16th and 17th, respectively, while Georgia Southwestern did the same in a rise to 18th. Indianapolis dropped three spots to 19th after its loss Sunday at Drury, while Western Washington fell to 20th. The final five teams in this week's poll are all teams that were not among the top 25 last week. Winona State heads that group at No. 21, followed by South Carolina Aiken, Lake Superior State, Central Missouri and California Baptist.

LAST TIME OUT – STORM SUFFERS FIRST LOSS OF THE YEAR: Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA) scored 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds, but his individual effort was overshadowed by a total team effort from Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena. The Sea Warriors saw all five starters score in double figures in a 96-77 Pacific West Conference win. Dixie State suffered its first loss of the year to drop to 11-1 on the year and 5-1 in league. HPU won its sixth straight to improve to 9-2, 4-1. The Sea Warriors dominated nearly every facet of the team's only scheduled matchup of the regular season. HPU won the tip and burst to a 14-4 lead on three lay-in from Farbod Farman and back to back 3-pointer from Justin Long and Malte Ziegenhagen. The Red Storm burst back after a sluggish start with an 8-2 run that closed the margin to four points. Unfortunately, that would be the closest DSU got to the Sea Warriors the rest of the night, During the stretch, Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan) (West Jordan, UT) nailed a triple as part of his eight first half points, Robbins nailed a jumper and Robbie Nielson (Gresham, OR/Barlow) (Gresham, OR) drew a foul after making a lay-up. HPU responded with small runs to build a 48-37 halftime lead. A 15-8 run to pen the half gave the hosts a 20-point advantage, 65-45, at the 15:36 mark. For five minutes midway during the second half, Robbins took the team on his back. Dixie State's 11-4 string saw a pair of lay-ins from Robbins and a make by Kimball Payne (Alpine, UT/Lone Peak) (Alpine, UT). HPU had answers to every Red Storm run and built a 22-point lead in the final minutes. Long led all scorers with 26 points while Farman posted a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds. HPU shot 55.6 percent from the floor, including 10 3-point baskets. Robbins added to his long resume of double-doubles with 10 rebounds and a 9-of-17 night from the field. Payne was the only other DSU player in double figures with 15 points. The Red Storm were held to 40.9 percent (27-66) shooting and were outmuscled on the glass, 49-34.

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 TEAM:
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.
> Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland), the 6-10 combo forward/center from Upland, Calif., was selected as the Pacific West Conference Preseason Player of the Year. He is the DSU all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots.
> 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.
> 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: 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 Dan Stock into third place and needs 43 steals to move into second place ahead of McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson). Junior forward Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland), already the DSU leader in career blocks, moved into sixth place on the scoring list passing Donovan Plunkett in the NDNU game; he needs three 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 Massey for fourth on the career-scoring list and needs 128 points to move into second place past Tom Whitehead. Dalton moved into second place, ahead of Whitehead, in field goals made and needs 12 field goals to take the career lead over Ryan Sanchez. Three makes from beyond the arc put Groskreutz into a sixth place tie with Dan Stock; he needs one make to tie Hartman for fifth and 19 triples to pass Donovan Plunkett for fourth. In free throws made, he passed Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) into fourth and needs one charity shot to tie Hartman for third place. Dalton needs seven rebounds to pass Massey for sixth place and nine boards to move into fifth place ahead of Griffon Jones.. 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) passed Johnny Little for eighth on the career list in 3-point field goals made – he sits 16 shots behind sixth place.

• AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS

> Azusa Pacific, winners of four straight, enters Saturday's Pacific West Conference matchup with a 7-4 overall record and 3-2 mark in league play. Last weekend, APU picked up a pair of 10-point conference home wins: 79-69 over Holy Names on Saturday, Jan. 5 and 69-59 over Notre Dame de Namur on Monday, Jan. 7.
> The Cougars were selected to finish fifth out of 13 teams in the PacWest preseason coaches vote. Senior guard Troy Leaf was selected to the All-PacWest Preseason Team.
> APU is led in scoring by Leaf at 19.7 point per game, also the highest average for any individual in the PacWest. Senior forward Tyler Monroe scores 13.1 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds. Third leading scorer Robert Sandoval (11.7 PPG) had missed the last four contests. Sharif Watson is the fourth APU player to average double figures at 10.0 PPG.
> Justin Leslie, a 2001 graduate of APU, is in his seventh year as head coach. He led the Cougars to a 9-8 PacWest record in the program' first year in the league and a West Region final in the NCCAA playoffs.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1/12/13   Dixie State 85, Azusa Pacific 57
1/26/13   Dixie State 67, Azusa Pacific 59

LAST TIME vs. APU, 2013: Senior guard McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (Payson, UT/Payson) scored a career-high 23 points to lead Dixie State over Azusa Pacific 67-59 in the teams' second Pacific West Conference meeting of the season Saturday night in the Burns Arena. Collecting their sixth consecutive win was not easy. Two weeks removed from a 28-point win on the road, Dixie State (13-4, 8-1 PacWest) trailed for the majority of the game and did not take the lead until a Massey free throw with 3:14 left in regulation. The Cougars (6-9, 3-4 PWC) held DSC to 41.7 percent shooting from the floor, but dropped their fourth straight game. Junior forward Dalton Groskreutz (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) (Santa Clara, UT/Snow Canyon) notched 16 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore forward Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) added 10 points and eight boards to round out three Storm players in double figures. Dixie State benefitted from the APU's physical play by drawing fouls and heading to the charity stripe 29 times – 22 in the second half. For the Cougars, Will Ward opened the game with 10 consecutive points en route to 15 for the night. Troy Leaf had a trio of triples, but needed 12 shot attempts for his 15 points. Leaf added a season-high nine rebounds for APU. Dixie State trailed by five at the half and never found themselves down by more than eight points. But the momentum of the game swung toward the home team in the final five minutes. With 4:47 to play, APU's B.J. Porter missed a 3-pointer in an attempt to cascade the lead to seven. On the ensuing Dixie State possession, Groskreutz nailed an outside shot off a Robbins assist. After Leaf made one of two from the line, Robbins was fouled on the rebound and knocked down two shots to tie the game with 4:04 left. Massey stole the ball during the first APU play out of a timeout. His first free throw gave Dixie State its first lead at 58-57. The Cougars handed the ball back to the Red Storm on a turnover inside the paint. Robbins pushed the lead to three with a 15-foot jumper. A third APU turnover in as many chances gave the ball back to DSC. Groskreutz was fouled in the act of a 3-point try and made two of three free throws for a five-point cushion. Two late shots from distance did not find the bucket for the Cougars and late charity shots from Massey and Derek Owen (St George, UT/Dixie) (St George, UT/Dixie) - seven points, five rebounds - sealed the game. Azusa Pacific won the battle of the boards 37-32 and had 14 offensive rebounds. Dixie State converted 16 APU turnovers in 19 points.

• FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS

> After opening the year with a 5-3 record, Fresno Pacific has dropped five straight regular season games, beginning with the first matchup with Dixie State, 85-80, on December 7. Now at 5-8/0-5 PacWest, the Sunbirds have a Saturday matchup at home against nationally ranked and undefeated California Baptist before traveling to St. George for Monday's game with the Red Storm.
> FPU was selected to finish second in the PacWest in the preseason vote, including one first-place vote from the coaches. Senior guard Malcolm Griffin was an All-PacWest Preseason Team selection.
> Griffin has scored in double figures in 13 of 14 games this year to lead Fresno Pacific at 17.5 points per game. He also paces FPU with 5.5 assists a contest, second best in the PacWest. Three other Sunbirds also score at a 10-point plus clip – Jackson Carbajal (12.9), Trevon Clayton (12.2) and Phil Jackson (10.9). On the boards, Clayton (6.8) and Jackson (6.2) top the FPU squad.
> Chris Wright, a 2005 graduate of the University of Texas, is in year three at FPU. He has a 61-44 career record and led Fresno Pacific to the NCCAA Final Four last year.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS
12/8/12   Fresno Pacific 82, Dixie State 80
2/5/13      Dixie State 106, Fresno Pacific 91
12/7/13   Dixie State 85, Fresno Pacific 80

LAST TIME vs. FPU, 2013: 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).

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