RIVERSIDE, Calif. – DeQuan Thompson led five players scoring in double-figures with 17 points and Zach Robbins became the Dixie State Division II all-time scoring leader in the Red Storm’s 76-54 victory over Cal State Stanislaus in first-day action at the CBU Ayres Thanksgiving Classic.
“The energy was there from everyone tonight,” head coach Jon Judkins said. “The bench was louder on our scores while defense and rebounding won the game for us.”
Dixie State (2-1) opened with an 8-4 spurt with a 3-pointer from Mason Sawyer, a jumper from Thompson and Robbins’ record-breaker field goal. His layup turned into an and-1 opportunity and pushed Robbins into first place on the career-scoring list past Ryan Sanchez.
The Warriors, who were the West Regional runners-up a season ago, started connecting from outside the arc to build a 20-15 lead with eight minutes left in the half.
Momentum would swing for the first time in the Red Storm’s favor over the next five minutes. DSU scored 13 straight points for a 32-20 lead. Anthony Morris provided the catalyst with a pair of free throws and Sawyer followed with a triple, a steal and a fast-break lay-in. Zac Hunter posted four points in the string and capped it with an assist on Sawyer’s 3-ball.
Chris Read from CSU Stanislaus (2-1) scored 10 points over the final three minutes to cut Dixie State’s lead to 36-30 at the break.
The game opened up in the opening moments of the second half when Dixie State went on another important run.
“When we started rebounding, defending and running, we went on a 13-0 run,” Judkins said. “When we do all three of those things, we are pretty good.”
Mark Ogden Jr. had three buckets during the stretch, including a dunk with a foul. Dixie State would stretch the lead to as many as 25 points in the second half.
Thompson had a team-high six field goals en route to the game’s best point total. Robbins followed with 13 points while Ogden, Sawyer and Hunter all had 11 points. The Storm shot 50.9 percent from the floor (28-55), including 7 of 13 from behind the arc. CSUS was held to 24 percent from the floor in the second half, 35.1 percent overall (20-57).
Dixie State closes out the post-Thanksgiving tournament on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific against Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lions defeated tournament host California Baptist 68-67 on Friday night.
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