Despite a furious second half rally, Dixie State came up just short in its 2018-19 season opener Saturday night as the Trailblazers fell to Cal Poly Pomona, 72-66, inside the Burns Arena.

The Broncos (2-0) never trailed as CPP scored the game's first nine points on three 3-pointers before DSU got on the board on a Dub Price lay-in nearly four minutes in. The Trailblazers kept within striking distance, eventually pulling to within 17-14 after a Jack Pagenkopf jumper with 8:20 to go in the half, but Pomona would close the half with a 17-3 run to take a 34-17 lead into the halftime break.

Cal Poly Pomona maintained its double-digit advantage for most of the second half and extended to a 59-40 bulge following a Jordan Ogundiran steal and lay-in with 8:20 to play. That play served as a wake-up call for the Blazers as Dixie State would outscore the Broncos 21-4 over the next five-plus minutes, including nine-straight points to cap the rally, to pull to within 63-61 with 3:05 to go after a Matt Conway bucket.

Wade Miller, who scored all 13 of his points in the final eight minutes of the stanza, kick-started the rally with a 3-pointer, and he would account for five of DSU's final nine points in the run with another trey and lay-in. Meanwhile the DSU turned up the pressure as the Blazers held CPP without a field goal and forced a pair of turnovers during that rally.

Pomona stopped the run with three quick points to push its lead back to five at 66-61, but Miller struck again with his third 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 66-64 with 49 second left. However that would be as close as DSU would get Bronco guard Riley Schaefer answered with a trey of his own on Pomona's ensuing possession and CPP would hit free throws in the closing moments to escape with the win.

"The key of it was defense and we weren't very good defensively tonight," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "[CPP] were getting to the basket really easy, and when we had to collapse down, they would kick it out and hit threes. Pomona is a very good team, very hard team to guard and they're very athletic.

"How we got back in the game was we changed our defense and got really aggressive," Judkins added. "By being that aggressive we were able to get ourselves back in the game."

Conway led DSU with 22 points, including 13-of-17 at the foul line, while Price, Pagenkopf and Andre Wilson chipped in seven points apiece. DSU shook off its first-half shooting woes (5-of-25, .200) to shoot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) in the second half to finish the night at 32.8 percent (19-of-58) overall.

"Scoring 17 points in the first half, we just stood and waited for somebody else to do it instead of playing together," Judkins noted. "I thought we shared the ball better in the second half and found open guys and knocked down shots. I loved the energy and the effort they gave me those last eight minutes and they played their guts out, but you can't play eight minutes to beat a team that good."

The Trailblazers also connected on 7-of-17 (.412) from the perimeter and went 21-of-30 (.700) from the foul line. Dixie State outrebounded CPP 41-35, including a 16-9 clip on the offensive glass, and turned the ball over 14 times, with just two miscues in the second half.

Dwight Ramos led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting with six 3-pointers. CPP shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the floor, which included an 11-of-22 night (.500) from beyond the arc.

The Trailblazers continue their season-opening homestand next weekend as they host the 2018 Dixie State/Red Lion Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 23-24 in the Burns Arena. DSU will open the tourney against former PacWest rival Academy of Art on Friday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m., followed by a match-up vs. Western Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to the DSU games, Western Oregon will play Westminster College in the first game of the Classic on Friday at 5 p.m., while Academy of Art and Westminster will square off in game three on Saturday at 5 p.m.