OAKLAND, Calif. – Monday’s meeting between Dixie State and Holy Names resulted in the smallest margin of victory for the victorious team in the fourth all-time scuffle between the teams. Luckily for the Red Storm, the 14-point margin of victory kept an undefeated mark against the Hawks alive and brought an end to a successful 3-0 trip to the Bay Area.
DeQuan Thompson paced Dixie State with 18 points and Trevor Hill, the reigning Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Week, had a perfect night from the field helping the Storm win 84-70 in a wire-to-wire road win at Tobin Gym.
Dixie State improved to 14-6 on the season and 11-3 in PacWest play. The Hawks dropped their fourth straight to fall to 3-18 overall and 1-12 in league action.
Thompson connected on 6 of 10 shots from the floor, including three 3-point buckets. Hill attempted seven field goals and made all seven while going 2 of 3 from the charity stripe en route to a career-high 16 points off the bench.
Leading 45-29 at halftime after shooting 73 percent (19-26) from the floor over the opening 20 minutes, Dixie State saw its sizable advantage trimmed to five, 49-44, at the 15:04 mark. The Storm answered with a 6-0 run aided by a Zach Robbins tip in, a jumper from Hill and a driving lay-in from Thompson.
“In the first half, we defended really well, but gave up eight offensive rebounds,” DSU head coach Jon Judkins said. “In the second half we rebounded better, but our defense had some lapses. Give Holy Names credit, they play extremely hard.”
The Hawks would climb within nine points just past the midway portion of the second half, but Dixie State thwarted any rallies with a 16-8 run over the following five minutes to eclipse the halftime margin.
The DSU posts shouldered most of the load in the second half. Mark Ogden had a 6 of 6 night from the line to post 14 points and Robbins finished a rebounds short of a double-double (12 points, nine rebounds). Mason Sawyer paced DSU with five assists.
Dixie State gave up the ball only six times, matching its lowest turnover number of the season.
Nick Simi led four Hawks in double figures with 21 points on 7 of 17 shooting from behind the arc.
The Red Storm returns home for four consecutive PacWest games beginning Saturday, Feb. 7 against Notre Dame de Namur. Tip time from the Burns Arena is set for 7:30 p.m.
Stats: DSU 84. HNU 70
Women’s basketball
DSU 73. HNU 57
After a long road trip the Dixie State women’s basketball team heads home with a win after defeating Holy Names 73-57 on Monday night.
Four players scored in double figures, including Taylor Mann logging her ninth double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Haileigh Emerine just missed another one with 14 points and seven boards.Kaylah Miller added 14 points, four assists and one steal. Chermayne Moore also dropped in 14 points. Point guard Leslie Tademy posted eight points, five assists and three steals.
“It was a great team effort tonight and the girls played extremely hard,” head coach Jenny Thigpin said. “We stuck to the game plan and we are hard to beat when we have four players in double figures and share the ball well.”
The Red Storm (6-14, 5-9) played with a double-digit lead for most of the game and held off any surge the Hawks (2-19, 1-12) tried to put together. DSU shot 48.3 percent from the floor and trimmed its turnover number down to 17 after nights of 29 and 31 recently.
Mann scored on a layup to give Dixie State a 16-15 edge at the 10:24 mark after the first 10 minutes of the half were back and forth.
DSU led the rest of the first half, stretching the lead to as much as 11 and took a 40-30 edge into the locker room after Mann grabbed another offensive board and putback. Mann had eight points and seven rebounds while Emerine posted 12 and four in the first frame.
Holy Names slowly chipped away at the lead and cut it do a one-point game at 46-45 with 10:47 to go.
A 20-4 run from the Red Storm over the next six minutes put them back in control for good.
Dixie State returns home to take on Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 5:30 p.m MT in the Burns Arena.
Stats: DSU 73, HNU 57
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