Dixie State survived a furious Fresno Pacific second-half rally and a school-record 19 missed free throws to escape with a 76-73 Pacific West Conference road victory Tuesday night in the FPU Special Events Center. The victory, DSU's third-straight and eighth in its last nine games overall, moved the Trailblazers to 8-4 on the season, 5-1 in PacWest play.

The Trailblazers seemed to take control of the game midway through the first half as DSU broke an 11-11 tie with eight-straight points as part of an 18-6 run to bolt out to a 29-17 lead with 7:39 to play until the intermission. Zac Hunter (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) scored six points during the rally, while Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) converted a four-point play after drawing a foul on a made 3-pointer, to pace DSU to the double-digit advantage.

FPU (1-11/1-4 PacWest) trimmed the deficit down to eight at 32-24, but DSU closed the half with a 15-4 spurt to take a 47-31 lead into the locker room.

However the second half was a different story as the Sunbirds outscored DSU 15-3 to open the stanza and held Dixie State to just one field goal and three free throws over the first seven-plus minutes of play to pare the Trailblazer lead to four at 50-46 with 12:26 to play. DSU missed nine of its first 10 shots and committed five turnovers during that stretch that allowed FPU to get back into the game.

Dixie State managed to push the lead back to as many as nine points at 57-48 after Simister and Hunter scored on consecutive trips down the floor, but FPU clawed back with six-straight points to make it a one-possession game at 57-54 after a Mike Crowley lay-in with 8:59 to go.

The Trailblazers did bend, but they did not break as DSU went on a quick 8-3 run to extend the lead to eight points and led 68-61 after a Simister trey with 4:15 on the clock. FPU countered with 3-pointers from T.J. Viney and Sam Holmes, sandwiched around a Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) lay-in, to again pull to within three at 70-67 with 3:05 left.

Bradley and Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) gave DSU a three-possession advantage with baskets on the Trailblazers' next two trips down the court, but again the Sunbirds would rally as Crawley hit a pair of free throws, then Holmes picked off a Simister pass and scored on a breakaway layup to cut the deficit to 74-71 with 52 seconds to go.

Wade Miller (Tremonton, Utah/Bear River HS) split a pair of free throws on DSU's next possession, and FPU pulled to within 75-73 on an R.J. Horn jumper with 31 seconds left. FPU fouled Nielson, who also split two free throws, and DSU dodged two Sunbird 3-point attempts in the closing seconds to come away with the win.

"An ugly win's a win and we'll take it," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We played really good in the first half. We were clicking, we were playing defense and we were attacking [on offense]. Then in the second half we came out flat, thinking the game was over.

"I thought we were a little tight [in the second half] and we shot some really bad shots," Judkins noted. "We came out to win three games [on the current road trip] and we got the first one tonight. We're happy with the win and we'll get ready to play on Thursday [at Academy of Art]."

Nielson led three Trailblazers in double figures with 13 points, while Hunter poured in 12 points, including 10 in the first half, and Simister hit three 3-pointers to finish with 12 points. After shooting a blistering 56.7 percent (17-of-30) en route to a double-digit lead in the first half, DSU hit only 8-of-25 (.320) of its shots in the second frame to finish at 45.5 percent (25-of-55) for the game.

Once again DSU struggled from the foul line as the Trailblazers went 21-of-40 (.525) from the stripe, including 11 missed fouls shots (12-of-23, .522) in the second half. The 19 missed free throws eclipsed the previous DSU NCAA-era program record of 18 (47-of-65) set vs. Colorado-Colorado Springs in the 2007-08 season (12/7/07).

Crawley scored nine of his game-high 16 points after halftime and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds to lead the Sunbirds. FPU shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67) from the floor, including 7-of-28 (.250) from the perimeter.

Dixie State continues its three-game NorCal road swing Thursday night in San Francisco with a date at Academy of Art.