Despite four Trailblazers scoring in double figures, Dixie State dropped the consolation game of the 2021 CSUN Good Sam Empire Classic to the host Matadors on Saturday afternoon at The Matadome. With the loss, the Trailblazers fell to 1-3 on the young season, while CSUN earned its first win of the year to move to 1-3.
 
DSU jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead five minutes in, thanks in part to consecutive 3-pointers from Brock Gilbert and Andre Mulibea. The Blazers pushed their lead to 18-9 at the 12 minute mark, but the Matadors used a 9-1 spurt to cut the deficit to 19-18 after a Darius Brown II trey.
 
Dixie State countered that CSUN run with 11-straight points of its own, as five different Trailblazers scored, to extend the lead to 30-18 with just under five minutes to play until halftime.
 
CSUN would again rally, outscoring Dixie State 18-5 to wrestle the lead away at 36-35. DSU pulled even with a Jacob Nicolds free throw and Cameron Gooden knocked down a jumper for the final points of the frame as the Blazers retreated to the locker room with a slim 38-36 advantage.
 
DSU would get off to another quick start to open the second half as Hunter Schofield converted a conventional three-point play to kick start a 9-2 run that pushed the Blazer lead to 47-38.

However that cushion would be short lived as the Matadors scored 10-straight points as part of an 18-4 rally en route to their biggest lead of the night at 56-51 with 7:34 to play.
 
Dixie State managed to tie the game on three separate occasions in the final minutes, the last coming at 61-61 following a pair of Nicolds free throws.
 
Matador guard Brendan Harrick would give CSUN the lead for good with a 3-pointer, the first of two-straight trey the guard would hit. Atin Wright later delivered the knock-out blow with a deep straight-away three with 44 seconds left, which extended the Matador lead to 75-68, and CSUN held on from there to notch the win.
 
Gooden led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 7-of-7 from the foul line. The junior guard also pulled down a team and career-high eight rebounds to with two assists, one steal, and was credited with his first DSU blocked shot on his way to all-tournament honors.
 
Schofield added 14 points and four boards, while Nicolds chipped in 13 points off the bench, and Gilbert finished with a career-high 10 points.
 
Dixie State hit on 20-of-48 (.417) from the floor, but went just 5-of-17 (.294) from the perimeter. The Blazers did go to the line 35 times and had more makes (28 - .800 FT%) than CSUN had attempts, which helped DSU build those early leads.  
 
Wright led four Matadors in double figures with 18 points, thanks a 4-of-4 night from beyond the arc. In all, CSUN knocked down 10 of its 15 (.667) 3-point attempts in the game, and shot an even 50.0 percent (27-of-54) from the floor overall.

Dixie State wraps up its SoCal road trip on Monday night as the Trailblazers head to Los Angeles to tangle with No. 25 USC. Tip-off inside the Galen Center is slated for 8 p.m. (PT).