Dixie State Suffers Second Straight Loss To UT Rio Grande Valley

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Dixie State men’s basketball team suffered a loss to the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros in consecutive games.

On Saturday, January 16, the Vaqueros hosted the Trailblazers in the second contest of back-to-back games between the two programs.

After failing to UT Rio Grande Valley a day earlier, Dixie State bounced back with a better performance but still suffered a 72-65 loss.

Final from Texas.

Your Trailblazers are back at home Friday against GCU in the Burns#WeAreONE #DixieBlazers #WACMBB pic.twitter.com/dT8EZp9hML

— Dixie State Basketball (@DIXIESTATEBBALL) January 17, 2021

Dixie State lost 82-47 on January 15.

The Blazers ended the game shooting 43.6 percent from the field, including 20.0 percent from three.

By comparison, they shot 34.6 percent overall and only 7.1 percent from three-point land in the first meeting.

However, the stronger shooting performance still wasn’t enough to prevent the seven-point loss.

2nd Half: Dibiamaka keeps us in the lead over @DIXIESTATEBBALL 68-63.
💻 https://t.co/S8jh0JYbhd
📊 https://t.co/pIDGJ0kXXw#RallyTheValley #UTRGV #WAChoops pic.twitter.com/qSGOnvdrQL

— UTRGV Men’s Basketball (@UTRGVmbb) January 17, 2021

Cameron Gooden led the Trailblazers with 18 points on 7-14 field goals.

The Vaqueros finished shooting 45.9 percent overall and 21.1 percent from distance.

Javon Levi led UT Rio Grande Valley with 15 points.

1st Half: Turnover and steal by Levi. We're tied against @DIXIESTATEBBALL 26-26.
💻 https://t.co/S8jh0JYbhd
📊 https://t.co/pIDGJ0kXXw#RallyTheValley #UTRGV #WAChoops pic.twitter.com/Mp10kAsSDR

— UTRGV Men’s Basketball (@UTRGVmbb) January 17, 2021

With the loss, the Blazers fell to 4-5 on the season and 0-2 in Western Athletic Conference games.

Dixie State’s next game is against Grand Canyon on Friday, January 22 at 7 p.m. (MDT). The game will broadcast on ESPN+.