Dixie State broke a school NCAA-era record with its fifth overtime game of the season, and the Trailblazers needed all 45 minutes of play to defeat Point Loma in a wild Pacific West Conference shootout, 83-80, Monday night in the Burns Arena. DSU won for the seventh time in eight games to close out the 2016 calendar year at 7-4, 4-1 in PacWest play.

Point Loma (5-6/2-3 PacWest) led 26-15 through the first 11 minutes of play thanks to hot perimeter shooting as the Sea Lions hit six of their first nine 3-point shots and went 10-of-18 from the floor overall to open the game.

After a Dixie State time out, the Trailblazers tightened up the defense and got the offense going as DSU outscored Point Loma 21-10 over the next 8:19, including 10-straight points in a 3:30 span, to take its first lead of the game at 36-35 after a Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) lay-up with 35 seconds left until halftime. PLNU came back with a Zach Burnham dunk on the Sea Lions' next possession, but Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) countered with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the stanza to give DSU a 39-37 lead at the intermission.

Dixie State kept the momentum going out of the locker room as the Trailblazers used an 18-8 run to begin the second half en route to their biggest lead of the game at 57-45 with 13:22 to play. Trailing 63-52 midway through the frame, Point Loma rallied with 10-straight points as part of an 18-6 spurt to pare the DSU advantage to 63-62 with just under seven minutes to go in regulation.

However DSU did not surrender its lead and would eventually extend it back to a three-possession gap at 72-65 thanks to a Simister trey and a Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS) bucket with 2:35 to go. Point Loma would rally again with five-straight points on a Josh Rodriguez 3-pointer and Burnham basket to trim the deficit down to 72-70 with 1:03 remaining.

Point Loma then forced a DSU shot-clock violation on the Trailblazers' next possession, and Rodriguez cashed in the turnover with a driving lay-in with four seconds left to knot the score at 72-72. Simister then drove the length of the court and had a good look at a game-winning 3-pointer, but the chance caromed away at the buzzer.

Dixie State struck first in overtime as the Trailblazers won the tip and Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) scored to give DSU a 74-72 lead. Rodriguez answered with a 3-pointer on the Sea Lions' first possession, but that would be the last time PLNU would enjoy the lead as DSU scored six-straight points, including four points from Fuller and two more from Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS), which staked the Trailblazers to an 80-75 lead with 1:44 left.

Point Loma made it a one-possession game the next time down the court with a Tanner Lancona bucket, but Dixie State managed to maintain a two-possession lead the rest of the way despite going 3-of-6 from the line in the closing moments, while the Sea Lions missed three of their last four perimeter shots before Trevor Peterson sank one at the final buzzer to produce the game's final points.

"Going into the halftime break up two with how [Point Loma] was shooting the ball, I was pretty happy with that," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We came out in the second half and did really well, but again those final two or three minutes we're not finishing games and not putting them away like we need to."

Simister finished with a team-high 21 points, including 14 in the first half which help spur on the Trailblazers' rally, while Fuller scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and overtime, during which he hit all five of his field goal attempts and went 5-of-7 from the line. Mathews chipped in 12 points off the bench on 6-of-9 shooting and Hill just missed scoring in double figures as he tallied nine points – all of which came after halftime.

"We have tough kids and we figure out ways to win, but we can't do that all the time because we're going to lose some games we should not lose," Judkins added. "I'm happy with how hard we played and I thought that was a big key for us in the second half."

Dixie State shot 50-percent or better for the fourth-straight game (and fifth time in the last six games overall) as the Trailblazers went an even 30-of-60 (.500) from the floor, including a 5-of-14 clip (.357) from the perimeter. The Trailblazers won despite hitting on just 54.5 percent (18-of-33) of their foul shots, while both teams each wound up even in the rebounding department (38-38).

Rodriguez led the Sea Lions with a game-high 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting and had seven assists before fouling out in the overtime. Point Loma shot 46.2 percent (30-of-65), while 41 of the team's 65 total shots came from beyond the arc as the Sea Lions went 14-of-41 (.341) from the perimeter, though they missed 24 of their final 32 attempts after their hot start in the first half.

Dixie State will kick-off the 2017 calendar year with a three-game road trip to the Bay Area, beginning with a match-up at Fresno Pacific on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Trailblazers will then square off with Academy of Art in San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 5, and will close the trip with a return date vs. Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday, Jan. 7, in Belmont, Calif.