Dixie State closed out its NCAA Division I debut season with a 68-56 home loss to defending WAC champion New Mexico State on Senior Night Saturday inside the Burns Arena. The Trailblazers wrapped up its first year of D-I play with an 8-13 overall record, which included a 4-10 mark in WAC play.

NMSU (10-7/7-6 WAC) shot out of the gate, scoring 12 of the game's first 14 points, including consecutive Donnie Tillman 3-pointers, as the Aggies hit their first four shots to open the game.

Dixie State saw its deficit swell to 13 points at 32-19 with seven minutes to go in the first half. However the Trailblazers did not break as they battled back to make it a four point game at 36-32 following a Dason Youngblood lay-in with a little over two minutes to play in the first half, and trailed by a 40-34 count at the halftime break.

DSU could not get the offense going in the second half, and the Aggies took advantage as they outscored the Blazers 19-7, including 10-straight points, which culminated with a C.J. Roberts trey that extended the NMSU advantage to 59-41 with 8:43 to play.

The Trailblazers made one final push with a 12-3 spurt that trimmed the Aggie lead to 62-53 following a Jarod Greene bucket with 4:55 left, but DSU managed to score only three more points the rest of the way as NMSU closed out the win.

Cameron Gooden led three Trailblazers in double figures with 14 points, while Hunter Schofield and Frank Staine finished with 10 points apiece. DSU shot 34.6 percent (18-of-52) on the night, but was just 8-of-26 (.308) from the field in the second half. Dixie State also hit on 6-of-17 (.353) from the perimeter and posted a season high 93.3 percent clip (14-of-15) at the foul line.

Tillman led all scorers with 22 points, though he was held to just five points after halftime, while Johnny McCants added 12 points and Clayton Henry chipped in 10. NMSU shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the floor, which included a 29.2 percent (7-of-24) effort from beyond the arc.

Dixie State posted six wins against Division I opponents in its debut season at the D-I level, which included a 3-0 start overall. The Blazers also had a chance to see how they stacked up against the best in the country when they played at current No. 1 Gonzaga just before the New Year. Though some may judge this year's Trailblazer club by its record, Head Coach Jon Judkins noted that his program is not that far off.

"We found out that Division I is a lot different from what we all thought, I mean it was an eye opener for me," Coach Judkins said. "I knew [some of the teams we played] were bigger, stronger and faster, and we saw that tonight [against NMSU]. But I don't think we are as far off as people think."

In addition, the Trailblazers were the only program in the WAC that did not have to go through an extended COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and were the only team in the conference to play their full slate of league games (not including the Chicago State season shutdown).

"We didn't win as many games as we probably should have this year, we had a couple close ones that we didn't," Judkins added. "Not being able to play all the 26 games [that were originally scheduled] hurt us, I feel playing those would've helped us in getting our confidence going by beating some teams.

"But I'm just proud of our players and how hard they all worked this season," said Judkins. "I never had to get on them to work hard at practice or in games. As a coach, that's all you can expect."

New Mexico State will be the third seed in the upcoming WAC Postseason Tournament, which will be held next weekend in Las Vegas. Grand Canyon won a share of the regular season title and earned the top seed, while Utah Valley also claimed a share of the conference crown and will be the No. 2 seed. California Baptist will the fourth seed, Seattle U will be the fifth seed, and UT Rio Grande Valley will sixth-seed in the six-team tourney.