Fit for a King

Saturday, February 11

St. George, Utah

6:30 PM

California Baptist University

14-222-2/PacWest

Dixie State

13-316-6/PacWest

California Baptist

Dixie State

Photo by: Sammi Wellman

2/11/2017 8:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

ST. GEORGE, Utah — The last time California Baptist University and Dixie State squared off, it came down to the wire. Saturday night in Utah, the eighth-ranked Lancers were eager to not let it get that close and powered through to a 70-59 victory over the Trailblazers.

CBU improves to 22-2 overall and 14-2 in the PacWest to stay in the forefront for the conference championship. The Lancers are currently tied with Hawai'i Pacific in the PacWest standings. DSU drops to 16-6 on the year, 13-3 in conference to sit behind the Lancers and Sharks.

The win also marked a special night as Coach Rick Croy picked up his 100^th win with CBU.

Jordan Heading had a solid night, leading the Lancers with 25 points on 9-for-18 shooting. Kalidou Diouf followed with 18 points (8-for-13) and blocked a career-high five shots. Danny King had a career-night with 11 points (3-for-7) and was just two boards shy of a double-double, finishing with eight, which also was a career high. As a team, CBU out-rebounded DSU 45-to-37.

Casey Norris moved the ball around phenomenally for CBU, dishing out a career-high seven assists without turning the ball over once.

King got the ball rolling for the Lancers, draining a three from the corner before Diouf followed with a put-back to give CBU an early 5-0 lead.

DSU battled back and tied the game at 10-10, before the Lancers went on a 10-2 run. Back-to-back triples from Mason Stuteville and Heading capped the run to put CBU in front 20-12.

Once again, the Trailblazers came storming back, cutting the margin to two points and tried to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, but it was called off to give CBU the 28-26 lead at halftime.

The Lancers came out fired up and opened the second half with five-unanswered points. King sparked the spurt with a triple from the corner before Diouf made it 33-26 less than two minutes into the frame.

DSU tried to contain the visitors and pulled within four, 38-34, but the Lancers scored four-straight points to force a Trailblazer timeout. Jason Todd sparked the run by tipping an offensive board over to Diouf, allowing the big man to put it in the hole. Diouf followed with another jumper to put his team up 42-34.

Heading gave CBU its first double-digit lead of the night as he drove to the basket and drew a foul. He completed the old-fashioned, three-point play to put the Lancers up 49-39. Mason Stuteville gave CBU some extra breathing room by banking in a pass from Heading, 51-39.

The Trailblazers tried to keep it close as fouls stacked up against the Lancers, but CBU kept its composure and held a 60-46 lead heading down the stretch.

Todd drained a deep three to push that lead to 65-50 with just over two minutes left on the clock, before DSU scored and called a timeout.

The Trailblazers came out trying to foul to get back into the game, but the Lancers were not about to let the home team steal away their victory. CBU closed out the final two minutes strong to secure the 70-59 win.

CBU has three more games on the road – next week in the Bay Area and then at Concordia University of Irvine on Thursday, Feb. 23 – before closing out the regular season at home on Feb. 25, hosting Point Loma for an 8:00 p.m. tip off, live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.