Three Trailblazers scored in double figures as Dixie State won its sixth-straight game with a 78-69 road victory at North Dakota on Saturday afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
The victory moved DSU to 7-5 on the season, and it was Jon Judkins' 300^th career win as Dixie State head coach.
 
Playing in their first road game in 26 days, the Trailblazers got off to a rocky start, misfiring on their first seven field goal attempts. Meanwhile the UND combination of Ethan Igbanugo and Paul Bruns combined to score 16 of the Fighting Hawks' first 19 points as North Dakota raced out to an early 19-9 lead. UND started red hot from the perimeter, knocking down 5-of-6 from beyond the arc to open the contest.
 
Following a Dixie State timeout, the Blazers finally got the offense in gear, rattling off a 14-4 run over the next 3:40 to pull even at 23-23. Noa Gonsalves came off the bench to kick-start the rally with a quick 3-pointer, which was followed by a Cameron Gooden lay-up and an Andre Mulibea trey.
 
Gonsalves tallied seven points in the rally, including a pair of driving lay-ins, and Dancell Leter provided the exclamation point with a breakaway two-handed jam to tie the game.

DSU continued its run out of the under-eight media timeout when Frank Staine hit a jumper that gave the Trailblazers their first lead of the day. Dixie State would later extend to a 31-27 advantage on a Hunter Schofield straight away 3-pointer with 2:27 to go in the period.
 
North Dakota (4-9) countered with six unanswered points and regained the lead on an Igbanugo triple, but Gooden answered with a three-ball of his own right before the halftime horn to spot the Blazers a slim 34-33 lead at the intermission.

Dixie State kept that momentum going to begin the second frame, flipping the early first-half script with an 8-0 spurt to push its lead to nine at 42-33.
 
UND managed to trim the deficit to eight at 46-38, but the Blazers countered with a back-breaking 12-4 run, which culminated with five-straight Trevon Allfrey points, en route to their biggest lead of the day at 58-42 at the 11:07 mark.
 
Trailing by that same 16-point deficit with under six minutes to play, North Dakota rallied with 11-straight points, seven of which came at the foul line, to pare the Blazer lead to five at 70-65 with 3:20 remaining.
 
Jacob Nicolds finally ended the drought with a free throw, and Schofield followed with a strong drive in the lane as the shot clock wound down to put DSU back up eight at 73-65 with 1:59 remaining.
 
Igbanugo answered with his fifth 3-pointer of the game to make it a five-point game with just over one minute left, but that would be as close as UND would get as the Trailblazers hit 5-of-6 at the foul line in the final moments to salt away the victory.  
 
Schofield led Dixie State with 18 points, while Gonsalves poured in a career-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from the perimeter. Gooden chipped in 10 points and four boards, though the junior guard was held without an assist for just the second time in 33 career games as a Trailblazer.
 
DSU rebounded from its poor start offensively by shooting 48.4 percent (30-of-62) for the game, which included a 54.5 percent clip after the Blazers' first field goal more than five minutes into the game. Dixie State also hit on 7-of-20 (.350) from the perimeter, but was a paltry 11-of-19 (.579) at the foul line, and the Trailblazers outrebounded UND by a slim 35-34 margin.
 
Bruns led all scorers with 21 points, while Igbanugo finished with 18. UND shot an even 44.0 percent (22-of-50) from the floor, including an 8-of-28 (.286) clip from beyond the arc.

Dixie State will put a bow on the non-conference portion of its 2021-22 schedule this Wednesday night when the Trailblazers make the short trip up the I-15 to Cedar City to face in-state rival, and future WAC opponent, Southern Utah. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.