DSC MBB: Storm Strike for Seventh Straight on Senior Night

dixie state basketball
Donovan Plunkett guards NDNU's Jeff Ford on Wednesday. | Photo by Julie Buchanan Photography

ST. GEORGE – Senior forward Tom Whitehead saved one of his better season performances for a special occasion. Wednesday at the Burns Arena, the St. George native and five others played the final 40 minutes of their career inside the “comfy confines”.

Whitehead carded 21 points and five rebounds to lead Dixie State College to its seventh straight victory, an 85-69 win over Notre Dame de Namur.

Another senior, guard Donovan Plunkett, was the only other Red Storm player in double-figures with 12 points.

Dixie State improved to 17-5 overall and pulled into a three-way tie atop the Pacific West Conference at 10-2 (BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade).  The Red Storm showed superb control offensively only turning over the ball five times.

NDNU fell to 4-20 and 2-12 PWC.

The three-point shot played an instrumental role for NDNU in the first half. Dixie State had a 28-27 lead at the 7:31 mark until Jeff Ford and Cheynne Lishman drained a pair of shot from distance. Those shots were part of eight triples knocked down by the Argonauts in the first 20 minutes.

Despite a hot-shooting opponent, the Red Storm reeled off a 10-3 run to close the half and led by two, 38-36.

Dixie State pounced on a pair of missed shots and two NDNU turnovers to open up the second half with 10 straight points. Neither team notched a run of more than six points until the final minute when the Storm iced away the contest from the free-throw line.

The Red Storm finished the night 31 of 63 from the floor (49.2-percent) while the Argos shot 41.2-percent (21 of 51). NDNU won the battle of the boards by five.

Dixie State closed out their home schedule with a 7-2 record. The losses came early in Pac West play to Grand Canyon and BYU-Hawaii.

The Storm have a chance at redemption Saturday night when they open their final road trip in Laie against the Seasiders. The first of four games in the Hawaiian Islands tips off at 10:30 p.m. Mountain time. Listen to the game on KXDS 91.3FM or Network1Sports.com. The game will also be televised live on BYU-TV.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.