Dixie State head men's basketball coach Jon Judkins picked up his 500^th coaching victory Saturday night as the Trailblazers knocked off Pacific West Conference foe Hawai'i Hilo, 81-72, in the Burns Arena. DSU has now won three-straight and nine of its last 10 to improve to 14-5 overall, 11-2 in PacWest play.

The Trailblazers led wire-to-wire and looked as if they were going to make quick work of the Vulcans (6-11/4-7 PacWest) as they turned an 11-9 advantage to a 15-point lead at 29-14 with 7:26 to play in the opening half.

Hawai'i Hilo managed to stay within striking distance, cutting the deficit to nine at 39-30 just before the halftime break, and would pull to within four at 48-44 with 13:54 to play after a Brian Ishola lay-in. UHH held DSU to just four field goals over the first six minutes of the second half, while the Trailblazers, who struggled from the foul line for most of the night, missed six of seven from the charity stripe over that stretch.

Dixie State pushed the lead back to nine at 53-44 thanks to a pair of Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) free throws and a conventional three-point play from Zac Hunter (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS). DSU would eventually extend that advantage back to double-digits at 61-51 with just under eight minutes to go after two more Hunter charity tosses and enjoyed a 12-point cushion at 68-56 after a Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) lay-up with 5:04 to play.

The Vulcans made one last charge, trimming the DSU lead to 74-69 with 2:03 to go, but Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) broke the UHH press and found Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) for a lay-in on DSU's next possession, and Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) hit four free throws in the closing moments to salt away the landmark victory.

Hunter led four Trailblazers in double figures with a game and career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and finished with season-high seven rebounds. Hill added 13 points and dished out a game-high seven assists, while Simister chipped in 12 points with six rebounds and four assists, and Mathews poured in 12 points with a team-high nine rebounds off the bench.

Dixie State offset a tough night at the foul line by shooting a blistering 56.5 percent (26-of-46) from the floor, including a 59.3 percent clip (16-of-27) in the first half, and went 4-of-10 (.400) from the perimeter. However the Trailblazers missed 18 free throws, including 11 in the second half, as DSU finished 25-of-43 (.581) at the line, though DSU did hit on 10 of its final 11 free throws over the final six minutes.

DSU got the job done on the defensive end as the Trailblazers held UHH to 35.4 percent shooting (23-of-65) on the night, which included a paltry 9-of-34 (.265) in the opening half.

Dixie State also outrebounded UHH by a 46-33 count and swatted away six Vulcan shots, three of which coming from senior Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS), who blocked three of UHH's first four shot attempts en route to a career-high four blocks on the night.

"We got that 15-point lead early in the first half because we were really sharing the ball against [Hilo's] zone," Coach Judkins said. "Where [Hilo] came back on us was with us missing those foul shots, and they would come down and hit some big shots.

"But when it got to crunch time our guys got down in their stance and they defended and we got stops," Judkins added. "We've just to remember to do that all the time, not when [the game] is on the line. It was a good win, I'm happy for our players and they're playing hard."

With the win, Judkins moved to 500-234 (.681) over his coaching career, which includes a 216-106 (.671) record through his 11-plus years at DSU, and a 284-128 (.723) overall record at Snow College (1992-2005).

"[500 wins] is neat, but I could not do this without my players, all my former players and my players this year, it's everybody - all my coaches, the coaching staffs I've had. I've lucked out having great players and great coaches," Judkins said. "When I'm retired I'll tell my kids and grandkids 'This is what I did,' but right now I'm just worried about winning games and that includes the next one [vs. BYU-Hawaii this Thursday]."

Dixie State begins the final month of the 2016-17 regular season at home with two more home games against visitors from the Hawaiian Islands. DSU will welcome in BYU-Hawaii for the Seasiders' final visit to St. George on Thursday, Feb. 2, followed by a date vs. Chaminade on Saturday, Feb. 4. Both games will be played in the Burns Arena beginning at 7:30 p.m.