Wade Miller led three Trailblazers in double figures with a game-high 14 points off the bench to lead Dixie State to a 77-68 victory over Academy of Art in game two of the 2018 Dixie State/Red Lion Hotels Thanksgiving Classic Friday night inside the Burns Arena.

In a showdown between two former Pacific West Conference rivals, the Trailblazers (1-1) looked as if they were poised to break open what was an early back-and-forth slugfest with nine-straight points to turn a 22-19 deficit into a 28-22 lead after a Jack Pagenkopf 3-pointer and a pair of Dub Price free throws.

The Urban Knights (0-4) had other ideas, however, as Academy used a 12-4 run over the final five minutes of the stanza to erase the deficit and take a slim 34-32 advantage into the halftime break.

AAU would extend to a four-point cushion with a bucket on their first possession of the second half, but that lead would be short-lived as Dixie State erupted for a 19-4 run over a four-minute span, including 11-straight points, to vault to its biggest lead of the night at 51-40 with 13:14 to play.

Miller got the rally going with a with an offensive rebound and put back, while Matt Conway converted a conventional 3-point play set up by a Miller assist, and Cameron Chatwin scored six-consecutive points with a trey and a 3-point play of his own. Andre Wilson would also hit from downtown and then after Pagenkopf bucket, Miller capped the run with his second 3-pointer of the game.

Academy of Art, which was baffled by DSU's zone defense during the run, managed to stay within striking distance by thanks in part to some timely shooting of its own. Cobe Williams cut the lead to 59-52 after a long-range perimeter jumper, while Nemanja Kovacevic drilled a pair of 3-pointers, the second of which made it a one-possession game at 64-62 with 4:22 to play.

However the Trailblazers would not give up the lead as they put the game on ice with a decisive 12-2 run over the next three-plus minutes, with six of those points coming from Austin Montgomery, and DSU never looked back from there.

Miller hit five of his eight shot attempts with a pair of 3-pointers to pace DSU offensively, while Conway added 12 points with season-highs of nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Montgomery was perfect from the field (2-of-2) and at the line (6-of-6) to tally all 10 of his points in just nine second-half minutes, and Price filled the stat sheet with nine points, four boards, three assists and three steals.

Dixie State shot 48.1 percent (25-of-52) from the floor, including a 52.0 clip (13-of-25) in the second half, and hit on 7-of-19 (.368) from beyond the arc. DSU also went 20-of-28 (.714) from the line and outrebounded AAU 42-35.

Kovacevic finished the night with four 3-pointers and led the Knights with 14 points. AAU connected on a matching 40.9 percent from both the field (27-of-66) and the perimeter (9-of-22).

Dixie State will wrap up the two-day tournament against Western Oregon Saturday night in the Burns Arena starting at 7:30 p.m. WOU defeated Westminster College, 68-59, in the first game of the day.