Five Trailblazers scored in double figures as Dixie State ran its winning streak to eight-straight with a hard-fought 80-73 victory over Colorado Mesa in a key RMAC showdown Saturday night inside the Burns Arena. The win vaulted DSU (13-8) into a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings at 11-6 with five regular season games remaining, while CMU fell to 15-8, 10-7 in RMAC play.

The two teams battled back and forth in a first half that saw 10 ties and eight lead changes, while neither side was able to build a lead more than four points. RMAC leading scorer Connor Nichols blitzed the Trailblazers with 20 first half point, including a jumper and free throw to spot CMU a 40-38 lead late in the stanza. However Dixie State wrestled the lead back just before the halftime buzzer when Zach Frampton nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to give DSU at 41-40 lead at the break.

The Trailblazers never trailed in the second half as they began the stanza with a 13-6 spurt to open up a 54-46 lead after a Dub Price lay-in with 13:57 to play. Leading 60-52 with just under eight minutes to play, Dixie State saw its lead disintegrate in a flash as the Mavericks scored on three-straight possessions, including consecutive 3-pointers from Jess Spivey and Kenzo Nudo, which pulled CMU even at 60-60 with 6:38 left.

Tied at 62-62, Dixie State counter-punched with nine-straight points as part of a 15-4 run as the Trailblazers raced to their biggest lead of the night at 77-66 with 3:06 left. Matt Conway and Jack Pagenkopf kick-started the rally with back-to-back bucket as the duo combined for nine of DSU 15 points over that stretch.

The Mavericks mustered one last rally, scoring seven-consecutive points to trim the DSU lead down to 77-74 after a Nichols 3-pointer with 57 second to go. Then after Conway fouled out on an offensive foul on DSU's next possession, Nudo had a chance to make a one-possession game, but his 3-point chance caromed off to Frampton, who sank a pair of free throws to extend the Dixie State lead to 79-73 with 20 seconds left.

DSU then delivered the knock-out blow on CMU's ensuing possession when Price picked off a Spivey pass and was fouled. Price would split a pair of free throws, while Nudo's desperation heave at the horn went wide as the Blazers escaped with the win.

Conway posted his fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Trailblazers, while Julien Ducree just missed his second double-double of the year with 13 points and nine boards. Pagenkopf also finished with 13 points to go with five rebounds and two assists, and Frampton and Price poured in 12 points apiece.

Dixie State shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the floor, which included a 27.3 (3-of-11) night from the perimeter. After recording an NCAA era program-worst 21.4 percent (3-of-14) at the line on Friday night vs. Western Colorado, the Trailblazers bounced back by going 31-of-43 (.721) at the foul line on Saturday, including 21-of-29 clip (.724) after halftime. DSU also outrebounded CMU 43-35 with 16 offensive rebounds.

"It felt like a [March] tournament game, our guys shot better from the foul line, but we missed some more at the end that we didn't put away," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "I thought our rebounding was excellent, we had 16 offensive boards, which is one of our higher totals this season.

"I thought our guys didn't panic when it got close at the end, when [Nichols] hit the three to cut the lead to four with a minute to go, I didn't see any panic in our eyes," Judkins added. "We knew what we needed to do and we got to the foul line and took care of that."

Nichols led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting, though DSU held him to just eight points after halftime. CMU shot 41.4 percent from the floor (24-of-58) and were 35.0 (7-of-20) from beyond the arc, while the Mavericks were just 18-of-28 (.643) at the line.

Dixie State wraps up the road portion of its 2018-19 regular season next weekend as the Trailblazers head back to Colorado for a two-game trip. DSU will travels to play at Adams State on Friday, Feb. 15, followed by a date at Fort Lewis on Saturday, Feb. 16.