Senior point guard Mason Sawyer scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead Dixie State’s men’s basketball team to a convincing 91-56 victory over Concordia (OR) University in the second game of the Dixie State Classic on Friday night in the Burns Arena.
The Storm led wire-to-wire, opening the game with an 11-2 spurt, including six quick points from sophomore guard Trevor Hill on a pair of fast-break layups and a monster dunk. DSU led by as many as 15 points at 30-15 with 7:34 to play until intermission, but the Cavaliers hung tough as Concordia outscored the Storm, 18-7, including a 12-1 run at one stretch, to trim the DSU lead to four at the half, 37-33.
Dixie State came out firing to begin the second stanza, hitting on six of its first seven shots to push the lead back up to double digits at 51-40 with 15:31 to play. The Storm then turned up the defense as DSU held the Cavaliers to just two baskets and six total points as part of a decisive 24-6 run during a span of 10 minutes to take a commanding 75-46 lead with 5:37 to go. DSU scored 11 unanswered points in the run, including seven straight by Sawyer, as the Storm outscored the Cavs by 31 points in the frame en route to the win.
“We defended [in the second half], and we’ve got to realize that when we defend our offense goes,” DSU head coach Jon Judkins said. “When you play defense good things are going to happen. That’s when we opened the court and started running [on offense]. I thought we hustled, we rebounded well and we shared the ball. It was a good first game for us to get, but we’ve got a big challenge [vs. Seattle Pacific] tomorrow.”
DSU shot 49.3 percent from the floor (35-of-71), including a 62.2 clip (23-of-37) in the second half. Sawyer hit on 7-of-12 from the floor with three 3-pointers, while Hill finished with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting with a game and career-high nine assists. Senior Robbie Nielson, who scored DSU’s first points of the year, added 15 points with eight boards and three steals, and sophomore Zac Hunter tallied 13 points off the bench.
The Storm finished with 22 assists to only eight turnovers and committed just two turnovers in the second half. DSU outrebounded Concordia, 49-40, with sophomore Josh Fuller pulling down a game-high 14 boards. DSU’s defense held Concordia to 33.3 percent shooting (21-of-63) and forced 19 Cavalier turnovers. Latrell Wilson led CUO with 16 points, while Drew Martin chipped in 11.
Dixie State wraps up its annual Classic with an early-season showdown vs. West Region rival Seattle Pacific on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. SPU fell in overtime to Concordia (CA) in the opening game Friday, 68-60. Saturday’s first game will feature a battle between the two Concordias, which begins at 5 p.m.
Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.