On a night when he became the Dixie State single season leader in assists, senior guard Jack Pagenkopf poured in a career-high 27 points to help lead the No. 15-ranked Trailblazers to a thrilling 73-69 come-from-behind victory over Fort Lewis in front of a big "Senior Night" crowd in the Burns Arena on Saturday night.

DSU extended its win streak to four-straight and improved to 21-4 overall, while the win kept the Blazers tied atop the RMAC standings with Black Hills State at 16-3.

Dixie State came out of the gate a little flat as the Trailblazers misfired on nine of their first 14 shots over the first nine-plus minutes. Meanwhile, the Skyhawks (13-12/7-12 RMAC) did just the opposite as they went 9-of-12 from the floor to open up a 20-11 lead with 10:30 to play in the period.

The Blazer offense looked like it would finally get going three minutes later when Pagenkopf clinched the record on a feed to Dason Youngblood for a reverse lay-up, which cut the deficit to 23-18.

Pagenkopf then hit a jumper at the 5:28 mark to pull DSU to within three at 24-21, but Fort Lewis countered with an 8-2 spurt to extend to back to a nine-point bulge and would take a 34-27 lead at the intermission. The seven-point deficit also marked the first time this season Dixie State trailed at home at the halftime break. 

DSU bolted out of the gate to start the second half, outscoring FLC 11-4 over the first three-plus minutes of the frame to pull even at 38-38. Frank Staine kick-started the run with a corner 3-pointer, while Hunter Schofield scored four quick points later in the rally.

After Staine finished a fast-break lay-in, Jacob Nicolds blocked a Corey Seng 3-point attempt, snared the rebound and found a streaking Pagenkopf, who threw down a break-away dunk pull the Blazers even with 16:31 to play.

Fort Lewis broke the tie on its next trip down the court, but Pagenkopf countered with a 3-pointer on DSU's following possession to give the Blazers their first lead of the night at 41-40. Skyhawk forward Riley Farris, who entered the game as the ninth-leading scorer in NCAA Division II, answered with a trey of his own, but Pagenkopf came right back with his second perimeter make to give DSU the lead right back.

Dixie State would extend the lead to as many as six points at 49-43 after a Schofield bucket and a Nicolds 3-pointer, but Fort Lewis responded by scoring eight of the game's next 10 points to knot the score at 51-51 with 10:20 on the clock. The lead would change hands five times before Fort Lewis rattled off an 8-0 run to turn a three-point DSU lead into a 66-61 Skyhawk advantage with 3:41 to go.

Youngblood made a three-point game on DSU's ensuing possession, then Pagenkopf stole the ball away from St. George native Logan Hokanson on the Skyhawks' next trip down and went coast-to-coast for a lay-in and foul. The senior would convert the three-point play to tie the game at 66-66 with 2:50 remaining, and would break a near two-minute scoreless drought with two more free throws with 1:08 to go push DSU back out in front by two.

Seng drew Fort Lewis even at 68-68 with an offensive board and put back with 52 seconds left, but Dixie State would take the lead for good on its next trip down as Hunter Schofield drilled a straight-away 3-pointer from the top of the key six seconds later. DSU would go on to split four free throws in the closing moments to clinch the victory.

Pagenkopf hit on 11 of his 20 shot attempts, both career-highs, with two made 3-pointers as his 27 points led all scorers. The senior also dished out four assists (151 assists on the season) to go with two rebounds and two steals.

Schofield added 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half to help spur on the Blazers' rally, and the junior forward pulled down six boards with two blocks, while Youngblood finished with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Dixie State shook off its cold shooting start by hitting on 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the floor in the second half to wind up at an even 50.0 percent (29-of-58) for the game. DSU also hit on 5-of-11 from the perimeter (.455) and went 10-of-18 (.556) at the line. The Blazers turned the ball over 11 times in the game, which included only four miscues after halftime, though DSU was outrebounded by a 34-31 count. 

Farris led two Skyhawk players in double figures with 21 points, while Seng tallied 13. FLC shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the floor, 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from 3-point country.

Dixie State wraps up the 2019-20 regular season with three-straight road games, beginning with its regular season final trip to Colorado as a member of the RMAC for two games next weekend. DSU will play at Regis on Friday, Feb. 21, followed by a date at Colorado Christian on Saturday, Feb. 22.