ST. GEORGE – Call it a quick maturation process. Freshman guard Brandon Simister scored 15 points in the second half leading Dixie State College to an 87-78 win over the Chaminade Silverswords in Pacific West Conference play on Monday night at the Burns Arena.
McKay Massey led Dixie State (5-2, 2-0 PWC) with 17 points. Dalton Groskreutz added 16 points in 27 minutes and Zach Robbins chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Silverswords (3-4, 0-1 PWC) were led by the guard duo of Lee Baily and Bennie Murray, each with 15 points.
“Our guys battled,” head coach Jon Judkins said. “We need to learn how to close out halves and games. Overall, I’m happy with the effort.”
Chaminade jumped out early to an 8-2 lead behind a pair if three pointers from OregonState transfer Rhys Murphy.
After the Swords took a 15-14 lead, Dixie State made a major run with 10 straight points. Triples from Groskreutz and Massey combined with free throw shots and a Kimball Payne driving layup gave DSC a 24-15 lead.
After another late eight point DSC spurt pushed the lead to 14 with 2:01 left, Chaminade outscored the home club 8-1 to minimize the deficit to seven, 37-30, at the break.
Dixie State would extend the lead to as many as 18 points at the 8:46 mark on a pair of Derek Owen free throws. Chaminade lived by the long shot, but also died by it. Three shots from distance put CUH within 10 points before an empatheticGroskreutz left-handed dunk brought the crowd to its feet.
Simister took over as the Storm iced away the game. His first three pointer with 3:37 left in regulation allowed DSC to take a 10-point lead. A few minutes later, Simister drained a contested wing ball as the shot clock expired.
Simister, Massey and Groskreutz nailed down the final eight points from the foul line.
Dixie State shot over 60 percent from the floor for the third game this year (61.7%, 29-47), while hitting 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Payne finished an assists shy of his career-best with eight.
The Red Storm continues Pacific West Conference play Saturday at Fresno Pacific, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Women’s Hoops: DSC 85, Chaminade 56
Kaylah Miller scored a game-high 18 points and Johnna Brown earned her 15th career double double as Dixie State ran away from Chaminade 86-56 tonight at the Burns Arena.
Brown finished the game with 11 points and 15 rebounds. It was her second consecutive game with a double double and her fourth of the season in just seven games.
The Red Storm shot 54.3 percent from the field and outscored the Silverswords 56-12 in the paint to lead them to victory.
“We were very unselfish with the basketball tonight with 28 assists and Kaylah had the hot hand and went on a nice little run in the first half,” said head coach Angie Kristensen. “I thought all our bigs owned the paint.”
Chaminade took an early 6-2 lead, only to see Dixie State go on an 18-2 run and push their lead to 10 points with 11:48 left in the first half.
Miller scored 11 of her 18 points in the first half to lead DSC to a 51-27 halftime lead.
“Obviously we continue to take it one game at a time, but it is nice to have a game where you can get some of those younger kids some minutes,” added Kristensen. “They work just as hard in practice so it is nice to reward them.”
All 12 players on the Red Storm roster played in the game, with 11 of them recording a mark on the score sheet.
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