Box Score

Malcolm Griffin made a running floater as time expired to give Fresno Pacific an 82-80 victory over defending PacWest champion Dixie State. Griffin finished with 22 points to lead the Sunbirds (6-4, 1-1 PWC) who picked up their first ever PacWest victory while handing the Red Storm (5-3, 2-1 PWC) its first loss of the season.

Griffin was one of five players in double figures for the Sunbirds, who led for much of the game before falling behind 79-74 with 3:17 left. FPU played exceptional defense over the last three minutes, forcing two turnovers and contesting every shot, and would take the lead on a Matt Samuels layup with 1:34 to play.

FPU maintained that lead until Dixie State's final possession, when Red Storm center Derek Owen was fouled with seven seconds left. Owen made the first free throw to tie it, but the second narrowly bounced off the rim. Samuels grabbed the rebound and fired a pass to Griffin, who jumped and caught it near halfcourt before driving to his right past a Dixie State defender and putting up a floater that found the bottom of the net just as the red lights on the backboard went off. Prior to the play the Sunbirds had one timeout remaining, but Wright elected to let his team go for the win.

"We have good players and so I wanted to let these guys push it up in transition," said head coach Chris Wright. "I trusted them to get a good shot up and when I saw Malcolm was going to put up his floater, I knew it was going down."

The Sunbirds withstood a 26-point, 18-rebound performance from Red Storm center Zach Robbins, a career high. McKay Massey and Dalton Groskreutz each added 15 for the Red Storm in the loss.

Dixie State entered the day with a 2-0 PacWest record after wins over Chaminade (which defeated Texas two weeks ago) and Hawaii Hilo. The Red Storm have won the PacWest two years in a row and earlier this season took ranked NCAA Division I opponent UNLV to overtime.

"I'm really proud of our guys," said Wright. "It took a lot of toughness and a lot of grit to get this thing done. It's great that we won, but the best part for me is seeing these guys work hard and succeed. I have to give all the credit to our players, they did a phenomenal job, and Coach Jesse Cuslidge did a great job of scouting Dixie State and making sure our guys were really prepared heading into this one."

The Sunbirds set the tone right out of the gate and would lead by as many as nine points in the first half after an Antonio Credit dunk made it 28-19 at the ten-minute mark. Trevon Clayton was a huge factor for the Sunbirds early on, scoring 12 points in the first half.

Dixie State would fight back into it to even it up in the final minute before the half. John Taylor made a rainbow three-pointer falling away in the corner with under ten seconds to go in the half, but DSC's Massey came right back and nailed a three as time expired to send the teams into the locker room tied at 45.

Griffin came up big in the second half, scoring 16 of his 22. The Sunbirds would also get a huge boost on defense, particularly from Taylor, Samuels and Anthony Brant. Brant's steal and fastbreak layup with 2:16 remaining brought the Sunbirds within one to set up the late-game heroics.

"I thought, besides Malcolm's shot, that was the play of the game," said Wright. "You could really sense the momentum was on their side. He's possibly our best perimeter defender. He just made a huge play at a critical time."

Griffin finished with six assists, five rebounds and three steals to go with his team-high 22 points. Credit added a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Clayton added 14 points, while Samuels finished with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Taylor had 12 points with six assists and three steals on the night.

FPU now turns its attention to another top PacWest foe, Grand Canyon. The Sunbirds travel to Phoenix on December 17 for a Monday night matchup with the Antelopes, who last week announced they will be making the move to NCAA Division I next season.

GCU (9-2, 2-0 PWC) reached the NCAA tournament last season and was picked to finish second in the PacWest. The Lopes come in riding an eight-game win streak.