Men's basketball: Dixie State, SLCC notch wins; Westminster drops duel

NAMPA, IDAHO — Donovan Plunkett scored 20 points and led four Dixie State College players in double figures as the Red Storm defeated Central Washington University 78-75 in day one action of the Northwest Nazarene Thanksgiving Classic at the Johnson Sports Center.

Plunkett was 6-of-11 from the floor with four three-pointers in 31 minutes for Dixie State (2-0). Tom Whitehead and Zach Robbins each chipped in 15 points, while Andy Palmer scored 14 in his first start of the season. Robbins paced the Red Storm with nine rebounds and Adam Ross dished out a game-high five assists.

Toussaint Tyler led the Wildcats with 16 points. J.C. Cook (15) and Humberto Perez (14) were the other two Central Washington (1-1) players in double figures.

The teams shuffled the lead six times in the first half. Plunkett hit a three with 50 seconds left in the half to put Dixie State up by four at 32-28. After a pair of Palmer free throws, CWU's Cook drained a late 3 to even the score at the break 34-34.

Roby Clyde, a transfer from Snow College, sparked an opening 14-9 run for the Wildcats with a jumper and three free throws for CWU's biggest lead of the night at five points, 48-43.

Plunkett tied the game again at 52-52 with a three-pointer and DSC turned to the free-throw line to build a lead. Robbins hit six free throws in a row while Palmer, Whitehead and Plunkett each drained a pair over a two-minute span. The lead ballooned to eight points with 4:54 left in the game after back-to-back jumpers from Ross and Whitehead.

Central cut the Dixie State lead to two on a Tyler jumper and had the chance to tie the game on a Perez steal of the inbound pass. Plunkett preserved the lead with a final-minute steal. Whitehead hit a pair of fouls shots and Kacen Smith hit a two with 15 seconds left to hold off the Wildcats.

Dixie State shot 23-of-52 from the field (43.4 percent) and made 76 percent of its foul shots in the second half. Central won the close battle on the boards 38-37.

The Red Storm face tournament-host Northwest Nazarene tonight at 7:30 p.m. inside the Johnson Sports Center.

COLLEGE OF IDAHO 55, WESTMINSTER 52: At Salt Lake City, Matt Ballenger made a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining to give the College of Idaho a 55-52 victory over the Westminster men's basketball team on Friday night.

Westminster (3-4) shot just 37.5 percent from the floor and was just 7-of-31 from beyond the arc.

The College of Idaho (2-2) went 9-of-18 in the second half and finished with a 26-18 advantage in points in the paint. The loss marks the first time since the Behnken Field House opened in 2005 that the Griffins have lost consecutive games at home.