Dixie State Basketball Falls To No. 1 Gonzaga In Spokane
Dec 30, 2020, 10:51 AM
Corey Kispert #24 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs drives against Emad Elniel #34, Hunter Schofield #44 and Mark Hatch #52 of the Dixie State Trailblazers in the second half at McCarthey Athletic Center on December 29, 2020 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeated Dixie State 112-67. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
(Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Dixie State basketball suffered their second loss of the season, falling to No. 1 Gonzaga 112-67 in Spokane, Washington.
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Dixie State basketball players had a great experience playing the No. 1 team in college basketball in their first season of Division I hoops. The Trailblazers had four players score in double figures led by Cameron Gooden with 20 points in 36 minutes on the floor. Jacob Nicolds added 11 points and 7 rebounds, while Jarod Greene and Trevon Allfrey each contributed 10 points.
Dixie State stayed close to the top team in college basketball through the first 10 minutes of the first half, trailing by 10 points. The Bulldogs ended the first half on a 27-14 run and was up 63-38 at the break.
.@DIXIESTATEBBALL falls at #1/1 @GonzagaBulldogs Tuesday night #DixieBlazers #WeAreONE #WACmbb #WAChoops https://t.co/jmK4lX86kG
— Dixie State Athletics (@DixieAthletics) December 30, 2020
Gonzaga outscored Dixie State 49-29 in the second half. Corey Kispert led all scorers with 25 points, Joel Ayayi added a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Oumar Ballo chipped in 17 points off the bench for the Bulldogs.
The Trailblazers shot 42 percent from the field (24-56), 26 percent from downtown (4-15) and knocked down 15 of their 22 attempts at the free throw line. Gonzaga made 60 percent of their field goal attempts (44-73), 34 percent of their three-pointers (8-23) and 16 of their 24 free throws.
The big difference in the game is the Trailblazers committing 20 turnovers and Gonzaga scoring 30 points off of the miscues. The Bulldogs also scored 72 points in the paint and had 40 points from their bench.
Dixie State basketball dropped to 4-2 on the season. Their four wins were over North Dakota, Saint Katherine, Denver and Bethesda College. They lost to Southern Utah and Gonzaga.
They will play their final non-conference game before jumping into WAC play, hosting SAGU American Indian College on Saturday, January 2 at 7 p.m. MST. Gonzaga improved to 9-0 on the season and will begin WCC action on Saturday against San Francisco. The Bulldogs have four wins over ranked teams during the 2020-21 season.
