MONMOUTH, Ore. – Big man Dub Price came up with a big-time offensive rebound to help the Dixie State Trailblazers get to overtime against Eastern New Mexico. DSU then dominated the extra period for a 99-89 victory over the Greyhounds in Oregon Friday night.
Down by two with less than one minute in regulation, Price came up big with an offensive rebound against Eastern New Mexico. Price dished the extra possession over to Trevor Hill who did a stutter step, drew a second defender, then whipped the ball to Austin Montgomery under the basket for the game-tying dunk with 32 seconds left in regulation. DSU then outscored ENMU 17-7 in OT for the win.
“I was actually on the other side of the court chasing the rebound that Dub (Price) got,” Montgomery said. “When he dished it back out to Trevor, I went back to the other block. Nobody came with me. It was a great pass from Trevor.”
“It was a great rebound by Dub,” Hill said. “There was very little time left and I started my drive and saw that Austin was underneath all alone. He got the dunk and it should have been another and-one for him”
The Greyhounds still had the ball with 32 seconds left. But after a timeout, the ball-handler lost control. Hill picked the ball up with five seconds left, took two dribbles and dished to Price ahead of him. But Price’s 15-footer at the buzzer came up short.
Overtime has not been good yet this year to the Blazers, but Dixie State scored the first five points then kept the cushion, forcing ENMU to foul toward the end. Dixie State hit its free throws to win the game 99-89. Dixie State hit all of its shots in the overtime except for two free throws. The Blazers hit all four field goals (including a Brandon Simister 3-pointer) and were 8 for 10 from the charity stripe.
To begin the game, the Greyhounds jumped out to an 8-2 lead. By the second media timeout, Dixie State had clawed back and taken the lead, 11-8. Montgomery had two layups with the second leading to an and-one.
For several minutes neither team could break away from the other. DSU’s biggest lead came on another and-one by Montgomery with 7:37 remaining in the half to put the Blazers up 20-16.
With less than one minute remaining before halftime, ENMU held a slim 36-35 advantage. After extending the lead to three on a jumper in the lane, the Greyhounds hit a 3-pointer just before halftime for a 41-35 lead.
At halftime, Hill led the team with 12 points. Montgomery had 10 points on 4 for 4 shooting from the floor. The Blazers held an 18-16 rebound advantage but were outshot from the floor 52-45 percent.
“Eastern New Mexico hit a lot of shots in the first half,” Dixie State head coach Jon Judkins said. “We did not think they could keep that up against our defense. We also made some adjustments on their pick and roll. They were hurting us with that in the first half.”
The Greyhounds hit the first bucket of the second half and then held off Dixie State for over 10 minutes. Simister finally tied the game at 65-65 with a 3-pointer at the 9:12 mark. ENMU responded with five straight, then the Blazers took their first lead of the second half with 3:10 remaining when Kyler Nielson hit a 3-pointer from the left side making it 77-75.
The lead see-sawed. Hill put DSU up 80-79 with a drive to the hoop at 1:42 on the clock. But ENMU hit a 3-pointer to retake the lead 82-80, setting up the late game heroics by Price, Hill and Montgomery.
Simister’s 3-pointer gave Dixie State an 87-82 lead in the overtime. Hill scored the next five points for DSU to keep the 2-5 point cushion. Simister’s jumper with 1:08 gave the Blazers a 94-88 advantage. The Greyhounds then fouled to try to get back in it, but the Blazer shooters found their mark, outscoring ENMU 17-7 in the OT.
For the game, Dixie State outshot the Greyhounds 52-48, with a 46-38 percentage advantage from 3-point land. The Blazers held a 43-32 rebounding advantage.
“Coming in, we knew that they were very fast in transition and that they crashed the offensive boards,” said Judkins. “So we worked on getting back and making sure that we got a body on them to block out. Tonight we did a good job of both of those.”
Hill ended the game with a career-high 35 points, plus five assists and five steals to lead Dixie State.
“I don’t think they had seen a lot of film on us,” said Judkins. “The teams that know us will help out on Trevor and make him kick it to one of our shooters. Tonight they did not help out and Trevor pretty much did whatever he wanted to do.”
Also scoring in double figures were Simister (20), Montgomery (20), and Nielson (12). Montgomery had a double-double with 13 rebounds. He also had a perfect shooting night, hitting all eight of his field goals and connecting on his two and-one free throws.
“(ENMU) gambled a lot on Austin in the post,” said Judkins. “At first, with his size, he was just shooting over them. Then they started going for the steal and Austin was making them pay. Dub also had a great game. Not only with that rebound, but he gave us some great play down the stretch.”
With the win, Dixie State evens its record at 2-2. The Blazers will play tourney host Western Oregon, Saturday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time.
Women’s basketball
Colorado Mesa 61, Dixie State 47
The Dixie State women’s basketball team fell in its home opener against future RMAC rival Colorado Mesa 61-47. The bigger and more experienced Rams bullied Dixie State in the first half to take a commanding 39-16 halftime lead.
“We were manhandled on both ends of the court,” said Dixie State head coach J.D. Gustin. “The coach had their girls ready to play. We were not ready. That’s on me.”
CMU, a perennial powerhouse in the RMAC, doubled up the Blazers in the first quarter, then outscored them 17-6 in the second. The Blazers had arguably their worst shooting performance for a half this year, hitting only 5 of 21 shots and 0-7 from the 3-point line. They were outrebounded 20-12 and committed 12 first-half turnovers.
“They got 12 offensive rebounds on us tonight,” said Gustin. “Even with their size advantage, if we block out like we should they don’t get as many opportunities.”
In the second half, DSU played to a near draw in the third quarter and then outscored CMU 18-10 in the fourth. The Rams used their size advantage to outscore Dixie State 24-10 in the paint for the game.
The Trailblazers pulled up their shooting to 33 percent by the end of the game. One bright point for DSU was their shooting at the foul line. The Blazers hit 14 of 16.
Individually, DSU was led by Mariah Martin and Kristin Baldwin with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Maile Richardson and Tramina Jordan led the team with five rebounds apiece.
With the loss, Dixie State falls to 1-2. The Blazers will play Montana State-Northern on Sunday at Burns Arena. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @oldschoolag
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.