Isaiah Pope tied a Dixie State four-year era record with six 3-pointers as part of a career night to help lead the Trailblazers to a convincing 64-48 victory over fellow Western Athletic Conference newcomer Tarleton State on Saturday night inside the Burns Arena.

The Trailblazers (8-11/4-8 WAC) never trailed, thanks in large part to the sophomore guard, who poured in 17 of Dixie State's 34 first half points as DSU took a 34-31 lead into the halftime break. Pope drilled five of his first eight tries from beyond the arc, but it was an Andre Mulibea trifecta right before the halftime buzzer that gave the Blazers the lead at the intermission.

Dixie State kept that vibe going to start the second half, particularly on the defensive end, as the Trailblazers limited Tarleton (7-9/2-6) to just two points over the first nine minutes of the period. Meanwhile DSU connected on four more 3-pointers, including a Frank Staine make before Mulibea hit not one, not two, but three-straight 3-pointers as part of a 14-2 run that gave the Blazers their biggest lead of the night at 48-33 with 11:31 to play.

The Texans countered with a 9-3 spurt to cut the deficit to nine at 51-42 with 8:04 to play, but Staine answered with a conventional three-point play on DSU's next trip down the court. Dixie State would maintain its double-digit cushion the rest of the way to clinch a split of the two-game weekend set.

"Tonight was fun to watch, fun to coach and fun to play, and that's what it's all about," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "As I told our guys [in the postgame locker room], that's the kind of guys that I thought we recruited tonight. Tonight was totally a whole different game [from Friday night's loss to Tarleton] energy wise, defense wise, and when you do those kinds of things, your shot goes [in]."

Pope finished with a career-high 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting, all from beyond the arc, and a 4-of-5 effort at the foul line. Pope became the sixth different player in the program's NCAA era to hit at least six 3-pointers in a game and was the first since former Trailblazer Brandon Simister achieved the feat at home vs. Holy Names nearly three years ago to the day (2/19/18).

Meanwhile Mulibea tallied 14 points, which was one off of his career high (vs. New Mexico, 1/13/21) on 5-of-9 shooting, including a 4-of-7 clip from the perimeter, and Staine scored all nine of his points after halftime.

"We tell our guys that we have all the confidence in the world in them and if you're open then shoot it," Judkins noted. "Our guys did a real good job of finding the open guy with extra passing tonight.

"Isaiah [Pope], what a start. I mean he comes out and [Tarleton] left him open, and we made those extra passes, because [Tarleton] is really good at when you kick it out they fly at you [defensively]. We made that one more pass because we knew we'd get open looks. We had [open looks] yesterday and we just didn't make them, but tonight we made them."

Dixie State connected on 41.7 percent (20-of-48) from the floor with 11 made 3-pointers (11-of-28, .393), and went 13-of-17 (.765) at the foul line. The Blazers also outrebounded Tarleton, 34-32, and collected 16 assists on their 20 made field goals.

However the story was the Trailblazer defense, which held the Texans to an opponent season-low 17 points and 23.1 percent from the floor in the second half (6-of-26, 0-of-7 3FG). DSU also forced nine of Tarleton's 14 total turnovers after halftime. TSU shot 35.3 percent (18-of-51) for the game and was just 2-of-13 (.154) from 3-point country.

"Our defense tonight was the whole difference in the game," said Judkins. "To hold [Tarleton] to 23 percent shooting and 17 points in the second half and 17 points, and 35 percent for the game, that's what won the game."

Dixie State will enjoy a weekend off from competition (Feb. 26-27) before wrapping up its D-I debut season at home against defending WAC champion New Mexico State on March 5-6. Tip-off each night inside the Burns Arena is slated for 7 p.m. (MT).