Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) led three Trailblazers in double figures with 18 points as Dixie State opened its four-game PacWest Bay Area road swing with a convincing 77-56 victory over Notre Dame de Namur Saturday afternoon at Gleason Gymnasium.

DSU (10-6/7-2 PacWest) never trailed as the Trailblazers scored the game's first 10 points, thanks in part to two Simister 3-pointers, on their way to an early 17-4 first half lead. NDNU (2-11/1-7 PacWest) would pull to within 19-12 after a Stephen Baity jumper with 11:26 left in the stanza, but Dixie State outscored the Argonauts 23-6 the rest of the way to take a commanding 42-18 advantage at the halftime intermission.

Dixie State would extend its lead to as many as 26 points and never saw that advantage dip below double digits, though the Argonauts did manage to cut the deficit to 12 points at 60-48 with 7:29 to play. However that would be as close as NDNU would get as the Trailblazers finished the game with a 17-8 run to post their fourth-straight win.

Simister scored 10 of his 18 points in the first half and hit on 5-of-9 from the floor (2-of-3 3FG), along with 6-of-6 effort at the line. Meanwhile Austin Montgomery (Lilburn, Ga./Lakeview Academy) tallied 17 points off the bench, one point off of his career-high, with 11 of those points coming in the opening frame to help lead the Trailblazers to their big halftime lead. Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) added 10 points and Julien Ducree (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga HS) poured in a career-high nine points in 11 reserve minutes.

DSU shot 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the floor, including a blistering 67.8 percent (19-of-28) clip in the first half, and went 3-of-7 (.429) from the perimeter. DSU also connected on a season-high 85.7 percent (18-of-21) at the foul line, 17-of-18 at the stripe in the second half, and outrebounded the Argos by a 36-28 count.

The Trailblazers held NDNU to 37.0 percent shooting (20-of-54), which included an 8-of-23 (.348) result from beyond the arc. Argo guard Chazz Wade hit five 3-pointers as part of an 8-of-14 effort to lead all scorers with 22 points.

Dixie State will now travel to Oakland for a Monday late afternoon match-up at Holy Names beginning at 4 p.m. (PT).