Behind a career-high and DSU single-game record 35 points from Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS), Dixie State rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to claim a 99-89 victory over Eastern New Mexico in the opening game of the 2017 Western Oregon/Doubletree by Hilton DII Shootout Friday in the WOU PE Gymnasium.

DSU (2-2) trailed 41-35 at the half and quickly fell behind by a 48-38 count after a Maurice Coleman lay-in just over a minute into the second stanza. The Trailblazers responded with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to three at 50-47 and eventually pulled even at 65-65 thanks to a Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) 3-pointer with 9:12 remaining.

The Greyhounds (2-1) bounced right back with an 8-2 spurt to extend to a 73-67 advantage, but again DSU rallied, outscoring ENMU 10-2 over a four-plus minute span and would take its first lead of the frame on a Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) trey with 3:10 to go in regulation.

Dixie State maintained that lead until a Zach Parker 3-pointer put ENMU back on top at 82-80 with 1:15 left. Then with under 40 seconds to play, Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) cleared an offensive rebound to Hill, who found Austin Montgomery (Lilburn, Ga./Lakeview Academy) for a thunderous dunk to knot the game at 82-82. The Trailblazer defense would step up and force a Greyhound turnover in the waning seconds of regulation to force overtime.

It was all Trailblazers in the extra session as DSU bolted out to a quick 87-82 lead thanks to a Montgomery jumper and a Simister 3-pointer on consecutive possessions. Dixie State never looked back from that moment on as it hit on all four of its shots and 8-of-10 at the line to outscore ENMU 17-7 in the stanza to clinch the win.

"That was a pretty big win against a very good team," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "The first half [ENMU] were doing what they wanted to do, they were hurting us on ball screens, but we did a good job adjusting defensively at halftime. We took the game into our hands instead of playing their style [in the second half], we played our style and it changed the whole game."  

Hill scored 23 of his 35 points after halftime as the senior hit on 11-of-19 from the floor and 13-of-17 at the foul line. Hill also collected six rebounds, five assists and five steals in 41 minutes played.

Not to be outdone, Montgomery also had himself a career-night as he posted his first career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds – both career highs. Montgomery was a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line to go along with one assist and career-high tying two blocked shots. Meanwhile, Simister poured in a season-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting with four treys and Nielson added 12 points.

Dixie State shot a season-high 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from the field, which included 6-of-13 (.462) from the perimeter, and shot a season-best 74.2 percent (23-of-31) from the foul line. DSU also outrebounded ENMU 43-32, including a 14-7 clip on the offensive glass.

Parker led five Greyhounds in double figures with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting with five 3-pointers. ENMU hit on 47.6 percent (30-of-63) of its shots and went 8-of-21 (.381) from beyond the arc.

The Trailblazers will face the homestanding Wolves in the Shootout's final game on Saturday at 3 p.m. (PT).