Dixie State University men’s basketball is in the midst of its longest winning streak of the season as the Storm continue to climb the ladder that is the Pacific West Conference standings.
The Storm have won a conference-best five straight games and now sit just one game behind Azusa Pacific University for the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament.
“We knew this was a big stretch for us,” head coach Jon Judkins said. “We came into this week knowing that we have a chance to really make a move in the conference and we did just that.”
The Storm started the week out on the right foot, blowing out Academy of Art 98-68 Thursday night.
DSU shot an unreal 70 percent from the field in the first half and nearly 64 percent in the game, the fourth best single-game percentage in school history.
“Our ball movement and execution was awesome,” Judkins said. “We are playing really well on the offensive end right now and I think we’re doing it at just the right time.”
Both sophomore guard Trevor Hill and senior forward Mark Ogden Jr. stuffed the stat sheet in the win. Hill finished with 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals and Ogden Jr. notched 22 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
“We’re shooting a really high percentage right now,” said Hill, a business administration major from Sandy. “I think it’s because we are sharing the ball. We’re willing to give up a good shot to get a great one.”
Another hot shooting performance led the Storm to a victory over Fresno Pacific University Saturday night as DSU shot over 50 percent from the field en route to another blowout win.
The 93-65 win was thanks in part to balanced offensive attack led by senior guard Mason Sawyer, who scored 19 points and hit four from distance in the ball game. Junior forward Josh Fuller added 17 points nine rebounds and Ogden Jr. had 11 points and 13 boards. Hill notched 16 points and five assists while sophomore guard Brandon Simister netted 10 points.
The final game of the five game home-stand didn’t start as well as the others, as DSU struggled out of the gates against Holy Names University.
Judkins said DSU came out sluggish against HNU and only led the 4-21 Hawks by seven at halftime.
The start, however, was not indicative of how the game would end as DSU scored 90 plus points for the for the fourth consecutive game and finished the sweep of the home-stand.
Ogden Jr. notched his third consecutive double-double with 10 and 10,