Dixie State came up just short in its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference debut as the Trailblazers dropped a hard-fought 68-64 decision at in-state rival Westminster College Saturday night inside Behnken Field House.

The Trailblazers (2-2/0-1 RMAC) weathered an early Griffin flurry as the guard combination of Jake Connor and Brandon Warr combined to shoot Westminster to an early 13-6 lead. Dixie State counter-punched right back with a 9-0 run, with seven of those points coming from Blazer reserves, to battle back to take its first lead of the night at 15-13 after a Matt Conway lay-in.

After a Griffin free throw gave Westminster the lead back at 18-17, reserve forward Julien Ducree tallied five-straight points, including a conventional three-point play. Wade Miller then buried his second 3-pointer of the night to give DSU a 25-20 lead. In all, DSU's bench combined for 18 points first half points as the Blazers took a 30-27 lead into the halftime break.

The two newly paired in-state and RMAC rivals battled back-and-forth through six ties and four lead changes over the first nine-plus minutes of the second half before a Conway bucket spotted DSU a 48-45 lead with 10:45 to play.

However that would be the final lead of the night for the Blazers as Connor tied the game with a 3-pointer on Westminster's next trip down the court, which sparked a decisive 15-3 run, which culminated with another dagger Connor trey with 5:10 remaining.

Dixie State was held without a field goal nearly seven minutes before Conway broke the drought with a lay-in to cut the deficit to 61-53. Andre Wilson followed with a converted three-point play and DSU managed to rally to make it a one-possession game at 66-63 after a Jack Pagenkopf score with 27.9 left.

That would be as close as the Blazers would get as the Griffins (3-2/1-0 RMAC) hit on 4-of-6 from the line in the closing moments to escape with the win.

Conway was the lone Trailblazer in double figures as he finished with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds and one steal. Pagenkopf added nine points and picked off four steals, while Wilson and Ducree chipped in eight points apiece.

Dixie State shot 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the floor and was held to 5-of-19 (.263) from the perimeter. DSU also struggled at the line, hitting on just 17-of-27 (.630) of its charity tosses and was outrebounded by a 37-34 margin.

Connor led all scorers with 24 points, which included a 4-of-6 effort from downtown, while Warr finished with 14 points and eight boards. Westminster shot 63.2 percent (12-of-19) in the second half to finish at 44.2 percent (19-of-43) for the game.

Dixie State continues its RMAC season-opening road swing next weekend as the Trailblazers play their first games ever in the "Mount Rushmore State." DSU will take on South Dakota Mines on Friday, Dec. 7, followed by a date at Black Hills State on Saturday, Dec. 8.