Junior Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) led four Storm players in double figures with 24 points, while senior Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) posted his seventh double-double of the year with 22 points and 16 rebounds, as Dixie State rolled past Academy of Art, 98-68, in Pacific West Conference play Thursday night in the Burns Arena.

Dixie State (12-8/9-5 PacWest) shot out the gate, hitting on eight of its first nine attempts to bolt to a 19-10 lead. AAU would trim the lead to four at 21-17, but the Storm answered with a 13-3 run to lead 34-23 after an Ogden Jr. lay-up and free throw.

The Storm kept the momentum rolling as DSU would outscore the Urban Knights 28-13 over a span of nearly nine minutes, with Hill and Ogden Jr. combining for 22 of those points along the way, as Dixie State pushed the advantage to as many as 19 points at 49-30 with 3:49 to play until intermission.

Academy of Art (5-16/3-12 PacWest) would make a game of it in the later stages of the stanza as the Urban Knights closed the half with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 51-40 heading into the locker room.

However 11 points would be as close as AAU would get as the Storm methodically began to pull away in the second half, led by seven points from Hill and eight more by junior Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS), as part of an 18-11 start to the frame which extended the lead 20 points at 69-49 with 12:34 to go. Then out of the under-12 minute media timeout, DSU rattled off six-straight points in a 13-3 spurt to push the lead to 84-54 after a Daylor Youngblood (South Jordan, Utah/Bingham HS) trey and the Storm never looked back en route to their third-straight win.

Hill, Ogden Jr. and Fuller (12 points) combined to shoot 20-of-24 (.833) from the field as the tandem accounted for 58 of DSU's 98 points. In addition to his double-double, Ogden Jr. had a one of his best overall games in a Storm uniform as he hit his first eight shots and finished 8-for-9 overall to go with a career-high six assists, two blocks and a steal in just 23 minutes of play. Meanwhile Hill went 8-of-10 from the floor with six dimes, five boards and a career-high four steals in 28 minutes.

Sophomore Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) chipped in 10 points and four assists in starting role tonight and senior Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) tallied eight points and five assists. Sawyer's final assist of the night, which came on the Youngblood 3-pointer with 6:51 left in the game, moved him into second place on DSU's career assist list with 254.

DSU enjoyed its best shooting night of the season as the Storm shot 63.6 percent (35-of-55) from the floor, which is the fourth-best single game shooting night in the school's NCAA Division II era. DSU, which flirted with the school record as late as the midway point of the second half, shot an 70.0 percent clip (21-of-31) in the first half, and hit on 7-of-12 (.583) from the perimeter overall.

DSU also won the battle of the boards, 38-30, and finished with a season-high 25 assists to just 10 turnovers. The lone sour note for the Storm – DSU hit on only 21-of-33 (.636) from the foul line.

"We had seven games left [entering tonight], now we have six, and our goal is to win all six. That's what we're focusing on, just one at a time," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "I'm happy with the win but we got to get better as we go and peak at the right time.

"We made some defensive mistakes late in the first half and we gave up eight offensive rebounds, which was way too many," Judkins added. "I thought the second half we were a lot better on defense and rebounding. I thought our bench was good tonight. We have three games in five days, and when you have a lead like that those guys deserve to play a little bit."

DSU's defense held the Urban Knights to just 19-of-54 (.352) from the floor, including a 6-of-17 (.353) result from beyond the arc. Jase Harrison led four AAU players in double figures with 21 points.

Dixie State will quickly turnaround and play host to Fresno Pacific this Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m.