Matt Conway poured in a career-high 25 points to lead Dixie State to a hard-fought 80-70 triumph over Western Oregon in the final game of the 2018 DSU/Red Lion Hotels Thanksgiving Classic Saturday night in the Burns Arena.

The Trailblazers (2-1) led 42-35 at the half and extended it to a 53-43 advantage after a Conway lay-in with a little over 14 minutes to play. Western Oregon would battle back with a 14-2 run, holding DSU without a field goal for over five minutes, while the Wolves (3-1) nailed a pair of 3-pointers, including a Jaylyn Richardson trey that gave his side a 57-55 lead with 8:40 remaining.

Dixie State would regain the lead at 63-61 with a pair of Jack Pagenkopf free throws at the six-minute mark, and managed to push its lead back up to eight at 70-62 following a big Zach Frampton 3-pointer and a Conway lay-in with 2:37 to go. The Blazer defense sparked the 8-1 spurt as they held WOU to six empty possessions over a span of four minutes.

The Wolves stayed within striking distance thanks to two Daiven Brushier 3-pointers, the last of which trimmed the DSU lead to 74-70 with 1:14 left, but Dixie State would go on to score the final six points of the night to complete a tournament sweep.

"How we got our [first double-digit lead in second half] was we were really defending and we were executing on offense, especially down in the post with [Conway]," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "We did a really good job of playing high-low and were getting some easy baskets. Then we got a little lackadaisical, we shot some bad shots and we stopped playing defense and stopped communicating [on the defensive end].

"When the game got tight, we started playing defense again and we started to execute on offense," Judkins added. "Teams always go on runs, so you have to know how to stop runs, and we did that by getting the ball down inside and getting to the foul line. We did that and stopped [WOU's] run. This weekend was a big weekend for us, but we need to keep getting better."

Conway enjoyed a hot shooting night as he hit on 7-of-10 from the floor and 11-of-13 at the line. The junior also tied a DSU career-high with nine rebounds to go with two assists and three blocked shots for good measure.

Meanwhile Pagenkopf tallied a career-best 16 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 at the line, and dished out five assists with two steals, and Frampton finished with eight points and three dimes. Dixie State shot a season-best 50.0 percent (22-of-44) from the floor, which included a 5-of-12 night (.417) from the perimeter. DSU also hit on a season-best 31-of-36 (.861) from the line, however the Trailblazers were outrebounded 41-32, including a lopsided 20-4 count on the offensive glass.

Brushier led the Wolves with 16 points thanks to a 5-of-6 shooting performance from beyond the arc and pulled down five boards. WOU connected on 26-of-70 (.371) from the floor, 10-of-32 (.313) from 3-point country.

Dixie State will begin its first season of RMAC play next Saturday night, Dec. 1, as the Trailblazers travel north on Interstate-15 to Salt Lake City to face in-state rival Westminster College at Behnken Field House. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.