No. 13 Dixie State used a late run to fend off a furious second half UC-Colorado Springs rally en route to a 75-61 victory Friday night inside the Burns Arena. The Trailblazers made a winner of Head Coach Jon Judkins (273-127, .682), who was coaching in his 400^th-career game at DSU, as the team improved to 11-1 overall, 6-0 in RMAC play.

The Trailblazers started the game on fire, hitting on five of their first seven shots with a pair of 3-pointers, to jump out to a quick 12-0 lead. Meanwhile, the DSU defense did its part, forcing six early Mountain Lion turnovers, while UCCS (7-4/3-3 RMAC) misfired on six of its first seven from the floor as Dixie State extended to a 20-3 cushion just six-plus minutes into the period.

UCCS slowly chipped away at the deficit, eventually pulling to within six at 31-25 after a Padiet Wang alley-oop dunk with 4:11 to go in the half. That would be as close as the Mountain Lions would get in the frame as Dixie State closed the stanza with a 15-3 spurt to take a 46-28 lead into the halftime break.

Dixie State managed to maintain its double-digit advantage over the first 10 minutes of the second half. However foul trouble in the Blazer front court helped lead to an 11-1 UCCS rally, which turned a 59-46 deficit into a one possession game at 60-57 after the second of back-to-back Geoff Kelly treys with 5:48 remaining.

From there it was all Trailblazers as Andre Wilson answered with a 3-pointer of his own on DSU's next possession to extend the lead to 63-57. Then after a two-minute scoreless stretch, Jack Pagenkopf went coast-to-coast for a lay-in, which was followed by two Frank Staine free throws and a Dason Youngblood jumper, which pushed the DSU lead back to double figures at 69-58 with 2:14 to go.

UCCS came back with two Patrick Lanipekun foul shots, but the Blazers countered with a Jarod Greene lay-in and a dagger 3-pointer off the right hand of Pagenkopf, as Dixie State outscored the Mountain Lions 15-4 over the final five-plus minutes to seal the victory.

Staine led all scorers with a career-high 20 points, 15 of which came in the first half, including 10 of DSU's 20 points in the opening run. The freshman hit 10-of-11 at the foul line and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Pagenkopf poured in 12 of his 15 points on the night in the second half and dished out a game-high eight assists, while Hunter Schofield chipped in 12 points with seven boards before fouling out.

Dixie State shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor, including 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from from the perimeter, which offset a frigid 61.5 percent clip (16-of-26) at the foul line. DSU also outrebounded UCCS by a slim 38-37 margin and forced 21 Mountain Lion turnovers, which led to 22 Trailblazer points.

Wang led three Mountain Lions in double figures with 14 points, while Blend Avdili posted a double-double with 13 point and a game-high 10 rebounds. UCCS was held to just 37.0 percent (17-of-46) shooting and had its own struggles at the charity stripe as the Mountain Lions connected on just 18-of-36 (.500) at the line overall, which included a 9-of-20 (.450) effort after halftime. 

The Trailblazers will quickly turn around and host preseason RMAC favorite Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.