Dixie State saw its losing skid reach six-straight as the Trailblazers were stymied by WAC leader Grand Canyon, 81-46, on Saturday night inside the Burns Arena. With the loss, DSU fell to 4-7 overall, 0-4 in conference play.

Dixie State drew first blood with a Dason Youngblood lay-in, but the rest of the half belonged to the Lopes (10-3/4-0 WAC). Grand Canyon broke the game open with a 21-6 run to race out to a 28-11 lead 14 minutes in en route to a commanding 36-22 halftime cushion.

The Trailblazers never got in sync offensively as DSU misfired on 10 of first 15 shots and turned the ball over seven times over those first 14 minutes. However the big stat from the GCU run was the Lopes outrebounded Dixie State 16-6 to begin the game, including a 6-0 count on the offensive glass, which led to numerous second-chance opportunities.

DSU pulled to within 12 with a Cameron Gooden bucket to begin the second half. However that would be as close as the Blazers would get as GCU used a 14-2 spurt after the Gooden score to extend to a 50-26 advantage, and the Lopes would cruise on from there to notch their sixth-straight win.

"I thought we were focused [heading into tonight], but I saw our toughness was a lot better last night [DSU lost to GCU 77-74 on Friday night]," Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "Tonight was totally [Grand Canyon], they turned a switch on. They got really physical with us, and like I told our guys, you can't rely on [officiating] to change that, you have to do it yourself.

"[Grand Canyon] to me is the best team in the [WAC]," Judkins added. "They have size, they have quickness, they can shoot it, they're very very good."

Gooden was the lone Trailblazer to score in double figures as the junior guard tallied 14 points, including DSU's final six points of the first half and the team's first six of the second frame, to try and keep his side in the game.

Dixie State was held to 35.6 percent (16-of-45) shooting from the floor, which included a 2-of-12 (.167) night from 3-point country. DSU also went 12-of-19 (.632) from the foul line and was outrebounded by a 42-26 margin (12-4 offensively), while the Blazers tied a season-low with eight assists against 18 turnovers.

"We have to get better with our toughness and with our fundamental game," said Judkins. "Rebounding hurt us again tonight, too many turnovers hurt us tonight, and I saw a little bit of selfishness tonight that I haven't seen for a while.

"Instead of moving the ball and sharing the ball, we had 18 turnovers to eight assists, it should be the other way around. This is something we've got to get better with and we've got to work on it and get better in practice."

Meanwhile, the 46 points scored by Dixie State on Saturday night tied for the second-fewest points in a game in the program's four-year era (L, 46-66 at Chaminade; 1/4/08), and marked the second time this season that DSU failed to score at least 50 points (49-82 at UTRGV, 1/15/21). In addition, the 35-point loss was Dixie State's worst home loss in the program's NCAA era.

Asbjorn Midtgaard, who entered the week as the NCAA D-I leader in field goal percentage, led four Lopes in double figures with 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting and had nine rebounds. GCU shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) on the night and went 7-of-22 (.318) from the perimeter.

Dixie State continues WAC play on the road next weekend, Jan. 29-30, and will face another former Pacific West Conference rival in California Baptist. Tip-off each night in Riverside is slated for 6 p.m. (PT).