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Utah Tech University Athletics

mbb_champspic
Stan Plewe/Utah Tech Athletics
82
Winner Dixie St. DSMB 22-6/17-5 RMAC
60
Westminster (UT) WCMB 16-12/11-11 RMAC
Winner
Dixie St. DSMB
22-6/17-5 RMAC
82
Final
60
Westminster (UT) WCMB
16-12/11-11 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Dixie St. DSMB 43 39 82
Westminster (UT) WCMB 32 28 60

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | by DSU Athletic Media Relations

CO-CHAMPS!!! No. 25 Trailblazers Clinch Share of RMAC Title with 82-60 Win at Westminster Friday


No. 25 Dixie State clinched at least of share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season title and the No. 1-overall seed in next week's RMAC Tournament with a decisive 82-60 victory at Westminster College on Friday night inside the Behnken Fieldhouse.

The Trailblazers closed the regular season with a 22-6 overall record and 17-5 mark in RMAC play. DSU shared the conference regular season crown with Black Hills State (17-5), which converted a four-point play as time expired to rally past South Dakota Mines, 59-58, on Friday night in Rapid City.

After spotting Westminster (16-12/11-11 RMAC) a quick 6-0 lead, the Trailblazer tandem of Jack Pagenkopf and Hunter Schofield combined to score 10-straight points as part of a 20-6 run to bolt to a 20-12 advantage.

Pagenkopf got DSU on the board with a 3-pointer and after the guard scored a bucket in the paint, Schofield hit a trey of his own to give DSU the lead. Cameron Chatwin knocked down a perimeter jumper, while Josh Newbold drilled his first shot before Pagenkopf capped the run with his second three of the night.

The Griffins stopped the run with five quick points, only to see Dixie State answer with an 8-0 spurt to extend to a 28-17 lead with 7:38 to go in the period. Then after Westminster pared the Blazer lead to five, Frank Staine went on a personal 9-1 run of his own as the freshman drilled consecutive 3-pointers and converted a conventional 3-point play to give Dixie State its biggest lead of the half at 37-25 with 4:42 on the clock.

Westminster would pull to within eight with under two minutes to play in the stanza, but Schofield struck for five-straight points, including his second trey of the game with 10 seconds left, as Dixie State took a 43-32 lead into the locker room.

Dixie State came out firing in the second half, outscoring Westminster 15-6, including 11-straight points to close the rally, to race out to its biggest lead of the night at 58-38 after a Schofield lay-in with 13:13 to go. Schofield accounted for nine of the Blazers' 15 points as DSU took command of the game.

The Griffins made one last push as Jake Connor hit back-to-back threes and connected for another perimeter jumper a few moments later. Brandon Warr followed with a pair of free throws as Westminster outscored DSU 11-2 to trim the Blazer lead to 60-49 with an even 10 minutes to play.

From there it was all Trailblazers rattled off six-straight points as part of a decisive 13-5 run to push the lead back to 73-54 with 4:40 to go. DSU's defense held Westminster without a field goal for over six minutes, while Staine and Pagenkopf each hit from downtown. Then in the closing moments, Pagenkopf provided the exclamation point with consecutive steals and buckets, including a break-away, one-handed jam that put the game and the co-championship on ice.

Schofield led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-3 from the perimeter, while Pagenkopf finished with 23 points, 13 of which came in the second half. The senior guard knocked down 3-of-9 shots from beyond the arc and also tallied eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Meanwhile Staine posted his first collegiate double-double with 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.

Dixie State shot an even 50.0 percent from the floor (30-of-60) and nailed a season-high 12 3-pointers (12-27; .474). DSU also outrebounded rebounded Westminster by a 43-32 count, 11-2 on the offensive glass.

Connor led Westminster with 15 points, 12 of which came from 3-point country. The Griffins wound up shooting 40.6 percent (22-of-55), 7-of-20 (.350) from the perimeter.

Dixie State will host No. 8 seed Regis in the RMAC Tournament Quarterfinal round on Tuesday night inside the Burns Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.




 
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