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Three Trailblazers scored in double figures as Dixie State closed out the 2018-19 regular season with a convincing 64-51 victory over in-state rival Westminster College on "Senior Night" Friday in the Burns Arena. The win, DSU's 13-straight overall, clinched the No. 2-seed in next week's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament as the Trailblazers improved to 18-8 overall, 16-6 in RMAC play.

The first half was a battle of runs, beginning with DSU jumping out to a quick 11-6 lead just five minutes into the opening period. The Griffins (10-16/8-14 RMAC) would counter with a 13-3 spurt, which flipped the score from a five-point DSU advantage to a 19-14 Westminster lead midway through the stanza.

Dixie State then took control, outscoring the Griffins 20-9 over the final 10 minutes of half on its way to a 34-26 halftime cushion. Seniors Quincy Mathews and Wade Miller spurred on the rally with six points apiece as five different Trailblazers scored in the rally.

DSU maintained its momentum to begin the second half as the Blazers opened the period with a 15-4 run over the first seven minutes of play to extend to a 49-30 advantage. Dixie State managed to push that lead to as many as 24 points at 57-33 following a Matt Conway lay-in with 7:54 to go, and the Trailblazers would cruise home from there for their 13^th-straight win.

"We started out well and then we let [Westminster] back into the game, but once we relaxed and got back into our flow, we started to play again," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "Our second halves have been better than our first halves all season and that was the case again tonight. This was a big win and we'll enjoy this tonight, but we have to be ready to go Tuesday [RMAC tourney quarterfinal]."

Senior Julien Ducree filled up the stat sheet in his final regular season home with a game-highs of 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds. Ducree also collected a career-high four steals and swatted away two Griffin shots in 24 minutes of action.

Jack Pagenkopf added 11 points on 5-of-7 from the floor, including a big 3-pointer that kick-started DSU's first-half rally, and Conway finished with 10 points with six boards and three assists. Conway's 10 points also moved him into second place on DSU's single-season scoring list (463 pts).

The Trailblazers shot 26-of-64 (.406) from the field, which included a 5-of-24 (.208) clip from the perimeter. DSU also hit on 7-of-10 (.700) from the line and outrebounded Westminster 41-35.

Even though the DSU offense struggled for most of the night, the Trailblazer defense stepped up to force 17 Griffin turnovers with 10 steals, and held Westminster to 38.5 percent (20-of-52) shooting, 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from beyond the arc. Brandon Warr was the lone Griffin to reach double figures with 11 points.

"Our defense and our rebounding were really good tonight," Judkins noted. "Julien [Ducree] played really well tonight for us, I thought Cameron [Chatwin] played well and Zach [Frampton] was all over the place hustling, he had tips and forced loose balls and all those things, so I was really happy for him too."

Dixie State will host No. 7-seed New Mexico Highlands in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinal round Tuesday night in the Burns Arena at 7 p.m. DSU posted an 83-65 home victory over NMHU (19-9/14-8 RMAC) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs back on Dec. 14.