Red Storm rally ends up too little, too late vs. Seattle Pacific

Written by Jordan Abel
November 15, 2015
Dixie State's Robbie Nielson (14), file photo from Dixie State University vs. Seattle Pacific University, Basketball, Utah, Nov. 14th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Dixie State fell behind early and fought back only to come up short as Seattle Pacific won 80-74 thanks to clutch free throws Saturday night at DSU’s Burns Arena.

The Red Storm struggled defensively early as the Falcons dropped 48 points in the first half to DSU’s 31. Dixie’s struggles didn’t change immediately out of halftime, but the Red Storm kept fighting, slowly clawing their way back into the game.

dsulogoDSU head coach Jon Judkins was happy with the way his team fought throughout the game, especially when in the full-court pressure defense.

“I was very happy with the effort we had the last 10 minutes,” he said. “We were down 18 with 10 minutes to go. I saw some fight in their eyes, which I liked. I thought they played extremely hard. It’s just we can’t wait until we’re down 18 to 20 points and then say, ‘OK, it’s time to go.’ They’re too good. They take the air out of the ball a little bit when they lock down. We decided to get into it a little bit more and pressure them a little bit more. I wish I would have done that earlier. It kind of got our guys going. I saw some drive tonight. I saw some heart.”

Dixie State's Mark Ogden Jr. (32) goes strong to the hoop, Dixie State University vs. Seattle Pacific University, Basketball, Utah, Nov. 14th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie State’s Mark Ogden Jr. (32) goes strong to the hoop, Dixie State University vs. Seattle Pacific University, Basketball, Utah, Nov. 14th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The Falcons shot a blistering 52 percent from 3-point range. Brendan Carroll, who scored 30 points, hit 9 of his 12 3-pointers. Carroll had 27 points early in the second half, but DSU’s Trevor Hill started to force missed shots and keep the ball from reaching Carroll.

“Coach just put out the challenge (to stop him), and I was just trying to accept the challenge,” Hill said. “I just tried to play to the strength of my defense. I was just trying to help my team anyway I could.”

Hill led the team in scoring with 20 points. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half because he started driving to the basket to get easy layups.

“(Attacking the basket) just kind of happened,” Hill said. “The team is pretty confident in me handling the ball. I think I make alright decisions; I’m looking to share the ball. They put the confidence in me and that makes me play better because I want to help them too.”

DSU went on a 20-6 run to cut the lead to five points late, but on a good screen, Carroll snuck into the corner and hit his ninth and final 3-pointer of the night, which took the air out of the arena. Dixie would get as close as four points, but couldn’t surmount the four-point barrier.

“It was our second game, and that one felt like a tournament game,” Judkins said. “I thought we did some really good things, but we did some really poor things, too. Defensively, you’re not going to beat a team like that that shoots 54 percent (from the field). They’ll just run the clock down to about five seconds and then they’ll hit one, and (Carroll) had an incredible game today.”

Dixie State's Mason Sawyer (12), Dixie State University vs. Seattle Pacific University, Basketball, Utah, Nov. 14th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie State’s Mason Sawyer (12), Dixie State University vs. Seattle Pacific University, Basketball, Utah, Nov. 14th, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Behind Hill was Mark Ogden Jr. with 15 points and eight rebounds, Mason Sawyer added 11 points and Josh Fuller had 10 more. Seattle Pacific knocked down its final seven free throws to finish off the game as Dixie State ran out of time trying to complete the comeback.

DSU, 1-1, will play next at the Sonoma State tournament against the host team Friday, Nov. 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

“(We will) just work hard,” Hill said. “We’ve got three days of practice and then I think we get on the road. We just got to come to work every day and play more consistently in practice and that will transfer to the games.”

Stats: SPU 80, DSU 74

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Abel started writing at Dixie State University for the Dixie Sun News in 2013, where he also became the sports editor for a semester before moving to Cedar City. He has also written for The Spectrum & Daily News, University Journal at Southern Utah University and now St. George News. He is currently attending Southern Utah University and pursuing a degree in pharmacy. Journalism has become a passion for him as he pursues his studies in another field. Jordan married Kaylee, a former Pine View and current SUU cross-country and track runner, in 2014.

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