No. 6/5 Dixie State saw its season-opening 10-game winning streak come to a halt in 91-75 upset loss at Western Oregon Friday afternoon at the WOU New PE Building. The road loss also snapped the Trailblazers' school record 23-game regular season win streak, which included the final 13 games of the 2018-19 regular season.

DSU (10-1), which entered Friday's game as one of the final six remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA Division II ranks, fell victim to a pair of big first-half WOU runs to trail 46-33 at the halftime break. The Wolves (6-2) used three 3-pointers as part of a 17-4 rally to race out to a 22-10 lead following a Zach Braugher trey at the 11:42 mark.

The Trailblazers managed to pull to within eight on a couple of occasions, but again Western Oregon would put together another run, this time an 18-5 spurt to extend to its biggest lead of the period at 46-25 after a Dalven Brushier lay-in with 4:46 left until the intermission. 

DSU did manage to stay within striking distance as the Blazer defense held the Wolves scoreless the rest of the frame, while the offense tallied the final eight points to trim the deficit down to 13 points before heading to the locker room.

Unfortunately for the Trailblazers, the momentum the generated before the halftime break disappeared as WOU opened the second half with another 14-4 run to push its lead to 60-37 after a Jaylyn Richardson lay-up and free throw.

Trailing 66-40, DSU answered with 14-straight points to pare the WOU lead down to 12 at 66-54 with 9:54 remaining. The Blazer bench sparked the rally, with Lleyton Parker getting the run started with a lay-in and free throw, while Andre Wilson accounted for six points, including a big 3-pointer along with three free throws.

However the deficit proved to be too much as Richardson scored six of WOU's next nine points to help push the Wolves' lead back to 19 at 75-56 with just over seven minutes to play. Western Oregon maintained its double-digit advantage the rest of the way to come away with the upset home win.

Jack Pagenkopf and Dason Youngblood led DSU with 11 points apiece, while Wilson finished with 10 points off the bench. Dixie State was held to a season-low 38.8 percent (26-of-67) shooting effort from the floor, which included an 8-of-27 day (.296) from the perimeter. The Blazers did hit on 15-of-19 (.789) from the foul line and outrebounded WOU by a 38-34 count.

Richardson led all scorers with 27 points, while Brushier added 22, as four Wolves players scored in double figures. WOU wound up hitting 14 3-pointers (14-of-34, .412) in the game and connected on 45.3 percent (29-of-64) of its shots overall.

Friday's loss also marked the second time in three seasons that a double-digit Dixie State win streak was snapped in Monmouth. At the end of the 2017-18 season, the Trailblazers took an in-season program record 17-game win streak into their NCAA Division II West Regional first round game vs. Azusa Pacific, but came away with a season-ending 69-65 loss to the Cougars on the WOU court.

Following the Christmas Holiday break, Dixie State will begin a stretch that will see the Trailblazers play seven of their next nine games inside the Burns Arena, starting with an exhibition game vs. Yellowstone Christian on Monday night, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m.