Wyoming’s TJ Young hit a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds to play to thwart Dixie State’s bid at a major upset as the Trailblazers fell 65-63 in its 2018-19 exhibition finale Saturday night inside the Arena-Auditorium.
Wyoming (4-9) jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead as the Trailblazers misfired on five of their first six shots. However, DSU found its range with a quick 8-2 spurt thanks to two consecutive 3-pointers from Zach Frampton and Wade Miller, while Cameron Chatwin connected for a jumper as Dixie State evened the game at 10-10 seven minutes in.
Hunter Thompson put the Cowboys back up 13-10 on UW’s ensuing possession, but the Blazers answered with four-straight Julien Ducree points, including a steal and breakaway jam to give Dixie State its first lead at 14-13 midway through the stanza.
Wyoming wrestled the lead back with a Jordan Naughton three-point play, but again Dixie State counter-punched with an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 24-19 with 3:30 to play until the halftime break. Miller and Andre Wilson both nailed 3-pointers, while Frampton got a big steal and lay-in to stake the Blazers to the five-point cushion.
Cowboys’ leading scorer Justin James quickly ended the DSU run with eight-straight points of his own to put Wyoming back on top, 27-24. However, Dixie State withstood the rally by hitting on 6-of-6 at the line in the closing minutes of the frame to go into the locker room tied with the Division I Cowboys at 30-30.
Wyoming looked as if it would run away with the game to start the second half as the Cowboys scored nine-straight points and held DSU without a field goal for the first four minutes to vault to their biggest lead of the night at 39-30.
Miller stopped the Blazer drought with a trey and Wilson followed with another 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 39-36, but UW answered with a 7-2 rally to push its advantage to 45-38.
Dixie State stayed within striking distance and trimmed the deficit to 50-49 on another Miller 3-pointer before two Dason Youngblood free throws gave the Blazers the lead back at 51-50 with 9:05 to go.
Tied at 56-56, Chatwin hit a jumper to give the Trailblazers a 58-56 lead, but Young answered right back with a perimeter three to put the Pokes back up one. Miller then struck for his sixth 3-pointer of the night and Wilson added a pair of free throws to give DSU a 63-59 lead with 1:45 to go.
Clinging to a 63-62 lead with 12 seconds to go, the Trailblazers missed a pair of crucial free throws, which set the stage for the Cowboys as Thompson found Young, who launched a shot from the right wing just out of the reach of Youngblood for the game-winning score.
Miller led all scorers with 18 points, with 12 of those points coming in the second half, on 6-of-13 from the perimeter, while Wilson tallied nine of his 12 points in the second half off the bench. DSU shot 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the floor, which included a 9-of-29 (.310) effort from beyond the arc.
James and Young poured in 16 points apiece to lead Wyoming, which shot 18-of-43 (.419) from the field and 7-of-22 (.318) from the perimeter.
Dixie State will open the new year by playing six of its next eight RMAC games on the road, beginning with a two-game trip to Colorado to face UC-Colorado Springs on Friday, Jan. 4, followed by a date at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, Jan. 5.