Senior Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) recorded his sixth double-double of the year with game-highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead Dixie State to a convincing 84-63 victory over Hawai'i Pacific in a key Pacific West Conference showdown Saturday night in the Burns Arena.

The Storm (10-8/7-5 PacWest) broke open a 9-8 game with a big 14-4 first-half run, including six points from Ogden Jr. and a pair of 3-pointers from seniors Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) and Robbie Nielson (Gresham, Ore./Barlow HS), to take a 23-12 lead with 8:21 to go until intermission.

After the Sharks (13-6/8-4 PacWest) cut the deficit to seven at 23-16, the Storm rattled off 10-straight points, with six points coming on one trip down the court. Junior Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS) sank a pair of free throws, then sophomore Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) stole the Sharks' inbounds pass and was fouled on his shot attempt. Simister hit both his charity tosses, then the Storm forced another turnover and Ogden Jr. knocked down a jumper to give DSU a commanding 33-16 advantage with 5:26 on the clock.

Sophomore Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) then got into the act as he cleared an HPU miss on the Sharks' next possession and drove the length of the floor and threw down a thunderous dunk, which forced the Sharks to call a timeout. Dixie State kept the momentum going as the Storm wound up outscoring HPU 21-8 over the final seven minutes of the frame to take a 44-24 lead into the locker room.

HPU never got closer than 17 points as Dixie State maintained a 20-plus point lead for much of the second half, pushing it to as many as 24 points on a couple of occasions before settling for the 21-point win.

"Our guys came out with a lot of energy tonight," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We were diving for balls and hustling and that's where you put teams away. That is what BYU-Hawai'i [last Tuesday night] did to us, and we were able to do that to [HPU] tonight. It was a good win."

Ogden Jr. hit on 12 of his 17 shot attempts in finishing one point off of his career-high (27 at Concordia-Irvine; 1/9/16), while five of his game-high 13 boards came on the offensive end, which resulted in eight second-chance points for the senior. Sawyer finished with 16 points, including 4-of-8 from the perimeter, to go with four assists. Sawyer also moved into sole possession of third-place on DSU's career 3-pointers made list (113 in 73 games) with a trey early in the second half.

Simister added in 13 points off the bench to go with three assists and two steals, and Hill tallied eight points with a game-high five assists and two blocks.

"Tonight Mark [Ogden Jr.] was Mark, he was aggressive and he played really well," Coach Judkins noted. "Mark was our impact player of the game and it was nice to see him bounce back and he did a good job tonight."

Dixie State blistered the nets as the Storm shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the floor (second-best shooting night of the season), including at 17-of-30 (.567) clip in the opening half. DSU also connected on 6-of-14 (.429) from the perimeter and 18-of-23 (.783) from the line. Dixie State also won the battle of the boards by a 42-31 margin.

HPU shot 36.2 (21-of-58) from the floor for the game, with the DSU defense holding the Sharks to just 5-of-21 shooting to open the game as the Storm went on their first big run of the stanza. Jordan Martin and Connor Looney paced the Sharks with 13 points apiece.

Dixie State continues its five-game homestand next Saturday night, Feb. 6, as the Storm welcomes California Baptist to the Burns Arena at 7:30 p.m. DSU will look to avenge a 88-77 loss to the Lancers earlier this season (12/3/15) in Riverside.