Mesa State coming off an eight day holiday break returned to action at the Dixie State Tournament in St. George, Utah. MSC opened the two-day tournament against host Dixie State falling to the Rebels Monday night by a score of 71-59.

                Despite a two point lead at half (26-24), the Rebels out-scored the Mavericks 47-33 in the second half, dropping the Mavs to 5-5 overall.

                Dixie tied the game at 26 at the 18:11 mark to start the second half and never trailed again on their way to their fifth victory of the season (5-5). MSC forced 21 Rebel turnovers but were out-rebounded 50-28, including 18 Dixie State offensive rebounds.

                Ryan Mathews led all scorers with 27 points. Mathews was 8-of-18 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the foul line. Mathews finished with a game high 3 treys.

                Dixie shot 46.4 (25-56) from the field and MSC finished 16-of-54 (29.6%) from the floor.

                MSC will play Western Oregon Tuesday evening at 5 p.m.