Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Mar. 12) -- Forward Tom Whitehead scored 17 points including a crucial three-pointer with 2:46 left to give Dixie State a six-point cushion and the fourth-seeded Red Storm went on to defeat eighth-seed Seattle Pacific75-73 in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Regional Saturday at Nicholson Pavilion.
Dixie (22-6) will play PacWest Conference rival Brigham Young – Hawaii in Monday's 7 p.m. championship game. BYU-Hawaii, which will be playing in its fourth consecutive West Regional final, eliminated Alaska Anchorage 100-91 in Saturday's first semifinal.
Whitehead's three-pointer finished off a run of seven consecutive points for Dixie after Seattle Pacific (20-10) had gone ahead 61-60 with 5:47 left on a three-pointer by Kellan Moll.
Dixie was still up by six with 40 seconds left but had to survive a pair of three-pointers in the final 30 seconds by SPU's David Downs and Jeff Downs.
Dixie was able to do that thanks to the free throw shooting on Donovan Plunkett, who made six of six in the last 26 seconds. Plunkett finished with 16 points finishing the game perfect from the foul line in eight attempts. Dixie ended up making 29 of 33 free throws compared to 14 of 21 by the Falcons.
Joining Whitehead and Plunkett in double figures for Dixie was center Solomon Jensen with 11 points. Dixie also got nine points each from Jeremiah Barnes and former Red Storm baseball standout Brett Adams who also had seven rebounds.
Seattle Pacific got 20 points each from David Downs and Jeff Downs. David, a freshman who made five of seven three-pointers in Friday's win against Central Washington, made five of six against Dixie and also had a game-high five assists.
Jeff Downs was just six of 17 from the floor including three of 13 from the arc.
Dixie State led by as many as 14 points (22-8 with 11:11 left) in the first half before David Downs hit two treys to spark a 9-0 run that brought the Falcons to within five points at halftime.
Dixie re-established a double-digit lead in the second half going ahead 41-31 in the early moments of the period. SPU, however, then outscored Dixie 15-2 getting five points each from Jeff Downs and Andy Poling to go ahead by five.
Dixie later pulled back into a tie at 56-56 on a three-pointer by Plunkett at 8:39 setting up Dixie's late run to finally take command.
Even after regaining the six-point lead, Dixie coach Jon Judkins didn't have an opportunity to relax.
“It was a tough game; they (SPU) just didn't give up,” Judkins said. “However, we were able to knock down our foul shots when they counted.”
“We were counted out by a lot of people (earlier in the season after losing star guard Chris Banchero to a knee injury),” SPU coach Ryan Looney said. “But our guys didn't go down easy.”
