Dixie State's guard tandem of Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) and Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) combined for 36 points to help lead the Storm to a convincing 70-48 Pacific West Conference victory over Notre Dame de Namur Thursday night in the Burns Arena.

Dixie State (7-6/4-3 PacWest) never trailed as the Storm bolted out to a quick 22-8 six minutes thanks in part to 10 early points from Hill and another five points from Sawyer. The Argonauts stayed within striking distance, cutting the lead to seven on a couple of occasions before both teams headed to the intermission with DSU up 38-30.

Sawyer then went off to begin the second stanza as he scored eight of Dixie State's first 10 points of the period, which included his 100^th-career 3-pointer, to spark a decisive 19-8 run that pushed the Storm's advantage to 19 at 57-38 with 10:16 to play. Then after lay-in by NDNU (1-13/0-7 PacWest) guard Tre'Shawn King-Dunbar cut the deficit to 17, senior Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) scored eight-straight points to give DSU its biggest lead of the game at 65-40 and the Storm never looked back.

Hill and Sawyer each finished with 18 points to lead all scorers, with Hill connecting on 6-of-9 from the floor with a pair of treys, while Sawyer hit on 7-of-8 shots, including a 4-of-5 from the perimeter. Meanwhile Ogden Jr. just missed his sixth double-double of the year as he poured in eight points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Dixie State shot 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the floor, including a 53.6 clip (15-of-28) in the first half, and was 6-of-13 (.462) from beyond the arc. DSU's defense limited NDNU to an opponent season-low 48 points (18 in the second half) and held the Argonauts to just 35.4 percent (17-of-48) shooting. The Storm also recorded a decisive 42-25 rebounding edge, including a 10-3 count on the offensive glass.

"I thought in the second half we really defended better – we started the game well but we kind of let them back in," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We always talk about winning the four-minute battles, we won three out of five in the first half, and then in the second half we won all five.

"Our guard play was really good tonight," Judkins noted. "Mason [Sawyer] finally got out of his slump and got some open shots, while Trevor [Hill] carried us that first half. It was a good win and it was good to get everybody into the game. They all worked hard [in practice] this week and I wanted to get them in and get them some time."

Brian Ying and Korey Serna led the Argonauts with eight points apiece.

Dixie State will next host Point Loma in a key PacWest game this Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., in the Burns Arena.

NOTES: DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins coached in his 700^th-career collegiate game Thursday night ... Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) became the fourth DSU player in the program's NCAA Division II era to reach the 100 3-pointers made plateau, joining former Storm players Tom Whitehead (145, 2008-11), DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (130, 2011-15) and McKay Massey (111, 2009-13) on the list ... senior guard Robbie Nielson (Gresham, Ore./Barlow HS) recorded one steal tonight to give him 99 for his career ... R. Nielson now stands one steal shy of him becoming the third DSU player in the program's D-II era with 100 career steals ... DSU held an opponent under 50 points for the first time since Dec. 4, 2014, in a 54-49 win at Point Loma.