(NCAA POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE - DSU)

Top-seeded UC San Diego used 17 three-pointers on its way to eliminate No. 8 seed Dixie State in quarterfinal round of the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament West Regionals, 94-68, Friday night at the UCSD RIMAC Arena. With the loss, the Trailblazers end their season with a 19-9 overall record, while UCSD (26-5) will advance to face No. 4 seed California Baptist in the regional semifinals Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. (PT).

DSU took a quick 2-0 lead on its first possession on a Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) jumper just 13 seconds into the game. However, from there it was all Tritons as UCSD raced out to a 23-12 with 10:48 to play in the opening frame.

The Trailblazers got it back below double digits on their next possession as Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) converted a conventional three-point play to make it a 23-15 game, but the Tritons went on an 11-4 spurt to extend the advantage to 15 points at 34-19 and would take a 44-30 lead into the locker room. Dixie State was unable to make a second-half charge as UC San Diego maintained a double-digit lead throughout the frame and cruised to the victory. 

"I'm proud of our guys and I'm proud of how hard we played and how hard we fought," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "The sad thing is you're going to remember this game, our 28^th game, more than any other game we played this season. But I told our players in the locker room that you can't look at your season on one game.

"I told them [in the locker room] that I was happy and proud of them - we got back [to the NCAA tournament] again," Coach Judkins added. "We only had two seniors [Bradley and Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS)] and this team could be really good next year. It's important for us to remember that and we'll get better."

Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) led three Trailblazers in double figures with 16 points, while Bradley finished with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and four rebounds in his final game in a DSU uniform. Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) also poured in 12 points on 4-of-7 from the floor with a team-high two three-pointers.

Dixie State shot an even 50.0 percent (25-of-50) from the floor, but was held to just 3-of-9 from the perimeter (.333). The Trailblazers also went 15-of-25 (.600) from the line and were outrebounded by a 37-23 count, including a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass.

UCSD finished 17-of-38 (.447) from beyond the arc, including 9-of-21 (.429) from long distance in the first half, while the Tritons went 33-of-63 (.524) from the floor overall. UC San Diego's 17 treys were also a DSU opponent season high. Aleks Lipovic led five Tritons in double figures with a game-high 21 points, all of which came from the perimeter on 7-of-15 shooting overall.

"UC San Diego was on tonight, it's the best we've seen them play," Coach Judkins noted. "We tried some different things tonight, but they shot the ball really well. Our rotations were a little slow and give [UCSD] credit, they were moving the ball around, and like I said, of all the film we watched on them, by far this was their best game."