Dixie State rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to escape with a hard-fought 67-64 Pacific West Conference victory at Concordia Irvine Monday night in the CU Arena. The win moved DSU to 12-5 overall, 9-2 in PacWest play.

Concordia (9-8/5-4 PacWest) led wire-to-wire in the first half as the Eagles jumped to a 14-6 advantage midway through the stanza. Dixie State managed to pull to within 24-23 after a Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) jumper in the lane, but the Eagles countered with a 10-1 run, spurred on by 3-pointers from Mike Hauser and Tad Dufelmeier, to extend to their biggest lead at 34-24 with 1:52 to play until the halftime break.

Dixie State did remain within striking distance to close out the frame as Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) and Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) each connected on lay-ins, while the DSU defense held CUI scoreless the rest of the way as the Trailblazers headed to the locker room down 34-28.

DSU pulled to within three points on a couple of occasions in the early going in the second half, but CUI would rattle off a 10-3 spurt to take its biggest lead of the night at 50-40 with 11:55 to go.

The 10-point deficit seemed to serve as a wake-up for Dixie State as the Trailblazers responded with an 11-2 run over the next three-plus minutes to pull to within a single-point at 52-51 with 8:20 to play. Hill accounted for six of those points, four of which came on a pair of thunderous dunks, while Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) kick-started the rally with a jumper and Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) hit a big 3-pointer from the right corner.

Concordia managed to temporarily quell the rally as Dufelmeier converted a conventional 3-point play, but the Trailblazers kept chipping away and would eventually take their first lead of the night at 59-58 on a Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) lay-in with 2:26 remaining.

Dixie State's defense then took over, forcing shot clock violations on two consecutive Eagle possessions, while DSU held CUI to just one field goal and six total points the rest of the way. Meanwhile the Trailblazers, who have struggled from the foul line for most of the season, hit on 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch, including two Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) charity tosses which gave DSU a 67-62 lead with 8.8 seconds to play.

Concordia would pull to within three on a Dalton Patchen tip in with 1.1 seconds left. Then after a CUI timeout, Eagle forward Brian Chambers picked off the DSU inbounds pass at midcourt and his desperation heave caromed off the front of the rim at the horn and DSU escaped with the win.

Hill scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half, while Hunter poured in all 10 of his points after halftime as the duo helped spearhead the Trailblazer rally. Nielson chipped in nine points and six rebounds, while Simister, Mathews and Austin Montgomery (Gainesville, Ga./Lakeview Academy) each poured in seven points.

Dixie State overcame a poor shooting night as the Trailblazers hit on a PacWest season-low 38.2 percent from the floor (21-of-55), including a 3-of-9 (.333) clip from the perimeter. However DSU managed to offset its shooting woes by going 22-of-29 (.759) from the foul line and outrebounded CUI 43-34, thanks to a career-high nine boards off the bench from Bradley to go with six points.

Dufelmeier led the Eagles with 10 points and six rebounds. CUI shot 35.0 percent (21-of-60) for the game, 6-of-19 (.316) from beyond the arc, and finished 16-of-23 (.696) from the line.

Dixie State returns home for a five-game homestand, which will be spread over a four-week period, beginning with match-up against Azusa Pacific in the Burns Arena this Saturday, Jan. 21, at 7:30 p.m.