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Utah Tech University Athletics

MBB PacWest Champs
Stan Plewe/Utah Tech Athletics
60
Point Loma PLNU-MBB 21-7/13-7
76
Winner Dixie State DX-MBB 20-6/17-3
Point Loma PLNU-MBB
21-7/13-7
60
Final
76
Dixie State DX-MBB
20-6/17-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Point Loma PLNU-MBB 27 33 60
Dixie State DX-MBB 40 36 76

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | John Potter, Media Relations Assistant

Dixie State rolls to @ThePacWest regular season championship

Robbins breaks his own rebounding record in 17-point win over PLNU

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Junior guard Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan) kept burying shots in the first half to give Dixie State a 13-point halftime, then senior center Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) dominated the boards and added a scoring flair inside to pace Dixie State to a 76-60 victory Saturday night over Point Loma that secured a share of the Red Storm's fifth Pacific West Conference title in the last six year.  
 
The DSU performance was more than just securing the team's ninth consecutive victory, a 20th win overall and securing the top-seed and first round bye in the upcoming PacWest Championships. It was an homage to the four men in the 2015 senior class and a showing that they are determine to continue playing high-caliber basketball into the month of March.
 
Sawyer hit his first four shots of the game, including a trio of 3-pointers, helping the Storm erase an early 12-11 PLNU lead with a 30-15 run that spanned the final 15:56 of the first half. DSU seized momentum under the 12-minute mark with a 10-point swing. Zac Hunter (American Fork, UT/American Fork) had a look off the glass off an assist from Robbie Nielson (Gresham, OR/Barlow), and then Nielson connected on a 3-ball for a 20-16 lead. DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) hit a mid-range jumper off a dime from Collin Woods (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon). On the following trip, Woods pulled up and hit a contested three to end the rally.
 
7505Dixie State took a 40-26 lead in to the halftime break after Robbins slammed home a pass from Thompson working out of a double-team trap. Robbins had 11 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Point Loma (21-7, 13-7 PacWest) sliced the lead to 11 points, 46-35, early in the second. Dixie State scored the game's next 13 points to push their lead out to 24 points. Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, CA/Steele Canyon) began with a lay-in plus a foul for a three-point play. Thompson hit an open 3-pointer from the right wing that brought the large Dixie State crowd to its feet. Free throws from Odgen, Trevor Hill (Sandy, UT/Alta) and Robbins extended the run.
 
Dixie State pushed the lead out to 29 points twice late with a Robbins jumper and a fast break dunk by Ogden.
 
Robbins closed the night with 13 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for DSU. He bested his own single game record of 18 boards on the road at Fresno Pacific on Dec. 8, 2012.
 
Thompson added 13 points while Nielson and Ogden each added nine. Hunter led the corps off the bench with eight points.
 
Point Loma, led in scoring by Hayden Lescault and Marek Klassen each with 11 points, ended the game on a 13-0 run.
 
DSU shot 50 percent for the game, including 14 for 26 (53 percent) in the first half. Also, the Storm was 6 of 9 from behind the arc and from the line before halftime.
 
DSU claimed the top overall seed in the PacWest Championship, by virtue of a tiebreaker from its win over BYU-Hawaii in Laie on Jan. 8. Azusa Pacific defeated Fresno Pacific at home by 20 earlier in the day to set up the shared regular season crown; the Cougars are the No. 2 seed and also earned a bye into the semifinals.
 
7506The Storm is set to face the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between PLNU and BYU-Hawaii on Friday, March 6 from the CU Arena in Irvine, Calif. Game time is set for 6:15 p.m. PST (7:15 p.m. MST).

 
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