Jack Pagenkopf scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to help lead No. 23 Dixie State to a hard-fought 74-68 victory over Colorado Mesa Friday night inside the Burns Arena. The win, DSU's fourth-straight, kept the Trailblazers (15-3) tied atop the RMAC standings at 10-2.

Dixie State jumped out to a quick 16-8 lead thanks to the hot shooting hand of Hunter Schofield, who connected on his first four shots – all from point blank range, as the junior accounted for nine of DSU's first 16 points overall.

The Blazers never trailed in the opening stanza, though the Mavericks (12-6/8-4 RMAC) managed to trim the deficit to three at 22-19 on an Ethan Richardson lay-in with 9:09 to play in the period. In fact, Richardson almost single-handedly kept CMU in the game in the early going as he scored 16 of the Mavericks' 32 first half points off the bench.

Schofield matched his low-post counterpart as he poured in 15 first-half points, including a big dunk that sparked a 14-8 spurt that extended the DSU lead to 36-27 with just under two minutes to go until the halftime break. CMU got to within 38-32 after a Jared Small jumper with under 30 seconds left, but Trailblazers countered with a Josh Newbold rainbow trey right before the horn to stake DSU to a 41-32 lead at the half.

DSU looked like it was going to make easy work of CMU in the second 20 minutes, scoring nine-straight points as part of an 11-5 run to vault to their biggest lead of the game at 52-37 with 14:20 remaining. Cameron Chatwin scored five points in the rally, while Frank Staine closed the run with consecutive buckets.

The Mavericks came right back with 14-straight points of their own, holding DSU scoreless for more than five minutes, to erase the Blazer lead and pull to within 52-51 after a Small 3-pointer with 9:06 to go.

Pagenkopf finally stopped the drought with a perimeter jumper of his own on DSU's ensuing possession and made it a 58-53 game with another trey with just under eight minutes left. However CMU scored eight of the game's next 10 points and would take its first lead of the night at 61-60 on a Clay Verk 3-pointer at the 4:52 mark.

Clinging to a 64-63 lead with under two minutes to play, Dason Youngblood drove the left baseline and found Schofield, who banked home a floater late in the shot clock to extend the DSU lead to three. Richardson counter-punched on CMU's next trip down with a lay-up and free throw to knot the score at 66-66 with 1:14 left.

Pagenkopf took over from there as he gave Dixie State lead back for good with a big step-back 3-pointer just 10 seconds later. After a pair of Tommy Nuno free throws drew CMU to within a point, the senior guard struck again as he crossed over his defender and stepped back for a dagger trey with 32 seconds left.

Pagenkopf then made the defensive play of the game when he stole the ball from Nuno on CMU's next trip down the court and was sent to the line. Pagenkopf would go on to hit both free throws, then cleared the rebound on a missed Nuno shot on CMU's next offensive possession and dribbled out the clock to clinch the Blazer win.

The senior hit on 6-of-10 from the floor in the second half, including 4-of-6 from downtown, and finished with five 3-pointers overall to go with six assists and four rebounds on the night. Meanwhile Schofield connected on eight of his 11 shots to wind up with 17 points with five boards.

Dixie State shot an even 50.0 percent (31-of-62) on the night, including a 9-of-22 clip (.409) from beyond the arc, though the Trailblazers went to the foul line a season-low four times (3-of-4, .750). DSU also outrebounded CMU by a 35-29 count and dished out 21 assists on its 31 made field goals.

Richardson tallied 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting to lead the Mavericks, while Small finished with 17. CMU, which hit a school-record 18 3-pointers (18-of-23) in its win last Saturday vs. Fort Lewis, was held to just 4-of-16 (.250) from the perimeter and shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the floor overall.

Dixie State wraps up its four-game homestand on Saturday night against Western Colorado. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.