No. 9/13 Dixie State found "Friday the 13^th" lucky enough as the Trailblazers erased a 19-point second half deficit to escape with a dramatic 109-108 overtime victory at New Mexico Highlands Friday night inside the John A. Wilson Complex.

With the win, the Trailblazers remain unbeaten on the season at 9-0, 4-0 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, while the Cowboys fell to 6-2, 1-2 in the RMAC standings.

NMHU (7-1/2-1 RMAC) opened the game on fire from the perimeter, hitting on six of its first seven 3-point attempts, as the Cowboys used a 19-2 run to bolt out to a commanding 24-7 lead. Raquan Mitchell went 5-for-5 from downtown in the rally, including four-straight treys to cap the run.

Trailing 29-15 with under 12 minutes to play in the first half, Dixie State began to slowly chip away at the deficit, outscoring Highlands 18-7 over a near six-minute stretch to eventually pull to within three at 36-33 after a Dason Youngblood 3-pointer with 6:20 to go until halftime.

However that would be the last bucket the Trailblazers would hit in the period as the Cowboys scored 15 of the final 17 points to take a 51-35 lead into the locker room. DSU was held to a pair of Jacob Nicolds free throws in the final minute, which broke a 13-0 NMHU run.

Mitchell, who scored 20 first half points, did not lose his shooting touch during the intermission as the senior guard hit three more 3-pointers and scored 13 the Cowboys' first 18 points of the second half as NMHU pushed its lead to a game-high 19 points at 69-50 with 14:15 to go following a Sammy Barnes-Thompkins lay-in and free throw.

Like they did in the first half, the Trailblazers would again methodically chip away at deficit, starting with seven-straight Andre Wilson points, as Dixie State managed to cut the NMHU lead to single digits at 75-66 after a Nicolds basket with 9:13 to go. Wilson continued to serve as a spark in the rally as he connected on back-to-back jumpers, including a pull-up transition bucket that drew DSU to within five at 77-72 with just under eight minutes remaining.

After two Jarod Greene free throws made it a 79-74 game, the Cowboys struck for seven-straight points as part of an 11-2 spurt to push their lead back to double digits at 90-76 at the 4:54 mark.

Hunter Schofield stopped the run with a big 3-pointer and Frank Staine followed with a lay-up, which sparked a 12-2 run that trimmed the Cowboy lead to 92-88 after a Wilson 3-pointer from the right wing.

Barnes-Thompkins answered with a lay-in on NMHU's next possession with 1:47 left, but Dixie State countered with two Schofield free throws and after a defensive stop, Lleyton Parker nailed a trey to pull the Blazers to within a point at 94-93 with 17.7 seconds left.

Dixie State's defense would come up big on the Cowboys' next possession as the Blazers forced a turnover in the backcourt, which gave the Trailblazers a chance to win in it in regulation. Schofield got position in the low block and drew a foul with 4.1 seconds left. The junior would split his two free throws to knot the game at 94-94, and DSU would hold NMHU without a shot as the clock expired to force overtime.

Trailing 102-99 after a David Hall trey, Dixie State came back with six-straight points to wrestle the lead back at 105-102. Jack Pagenkopf hit three of four from the line, while Staine drilled a clutch 3-pointer from the right corner with 1:58 on the clock.

Highlands made one more push as Barnes-Thompkins scored four of the Cowboys' final six points, including a lay-up with 23 seconds left to give his side a slim 108-107 advantage.

Out of timeouts, the Trailblazers got the ball across the timeline and took the clock as far as they could before Youngblood drove the into the lane and put up a 5-foot floater that found its way through the bottom of net with two ticks on the clock. NMHU then saw a desperation heave from mid-court fall short and Dixie State celebrated its dramatic win.

Schofield led five Blazers in double figures with a career-high 25 points, with 14 of those points coming at the foul line, and Staine tallied a career-best 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers. Youngblood also hit seven of his 12 from the floor on his way to 15 points to go with a career-high eight assists, while Wilson poured in 12 of his season-high 14 points after halftime, and Pagenkopf tallied 12 points.

Dixie State shot a season-best 56.9 percent (33-of-58) from the field, which included a 44.0 percent clip from 3-point country as the Blazers sank a season-high 11 treys (11-of-25). The Trailblazers also hit on 32-of-39 (.821) at the line and outrebounded NMHU 30-20.

Mitchell finished with 41 points to lead all scorers as he connected on 10-of-20 from the perimeter and went 13-of-27 from the floor overall. Meanwhile Barnes-Thompkins scored 20 of his 37 points in the second half and overtime period. NMHU connected on 34-of-71 (.479) from the field and hit 17 of its 38 (.447) attempts from beyond the arc.

Dixie State's 109 points are the third-most in the program's NCAA era, while the 108 points scored by NMHU are a DSU opponent single-game record, which eclipsed the previous record of 105 points scored by Dominican (L, 90-105; 2/20/14) during the 2013-14 season.

Dixie State will quickly head north Pueblo for a date at CSU-Pueblo on Saturday night beginning at 7:30 p.m.