It's tourney time! 7th-seeded Cowboys open RMAC Tourney at No. 2 Dixie St. on Tuesday

LAS VEGAS, N.M. --- It's win or go home for the New Mexico Highlands men's basketball team as the seventh-seeded Cowboys hit the road to take on No. 2 Dixie State 7 p.m. Tuesday in the opening round of the RMAC Tournament in St. George, Utah, in a matchup of the top offensive team in the conference against the top scoring defensive team.

NMHU finished in a three-way tie for fifth-place in the conference, but lost out on the RMAC three-way tiebreakers with Colorado Mesa and UCCS to pick up the No. 7 seed. 

PREVIOUS MEETING
The Cowboys saw their season-best seven-game winning streak (the program's longest win streak since the 2009-10 season) come to an end when they lost on the road to Dixie State 83-65 on Dec. 14. Shooting woes and foul trouble hurt NMHU in scoring what turned out to be tied for a season low. NMHU shot 32.8 percent from the field (including going 13-for-39 from 3-point range - 33.3 percent) while leading scorer Gerad Davis was limited to 14 minutes and starting post Nnamdi Okoro was limited to 19 minutes due to foul trouble (Davis still had 14 points).

The Cowboys forced the Trailblazers into 24 turnovers, but were outrebounded 55-25 and allowed Dixie State to shoot 55.4 percent from the field (including 8-for-15 from 3-point range).

Raquan Mitchell led the Cowboys with 21 points - including hitting five 3-pointers - while Jordan Jones added 10 points. Matt Conway led Dixie State with 17 points, Dub Price had 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals and Wade Miller had 11 points, nine rebounds and was 3-for-6 from 3-point range as six different Trailblazers hit a 3-pointer.

THE COWBOYS COMING INTO THE TOURNAMENT | SEASON STATS
NMHU wrapped up the regular season on a three-game winning streak - including an 88-82 win on the road over CSU-Pueblo on Friday. 

The Cowboys lead the RMAC and are 19th in the country in scoring at 87.2 points per game and also are tops in the conference and in the top 25 in the nation in turnover margin (plus 6.4 - third in DII), turnovers forced (17.7 - 16th) and 3-pointers per game (10.7 - 24th). 

NMHU features two of the top four scorers in the conference and top 55 in the nation in Davis and Mitchell. Davis is averaging 20.8 points per game - good for second in the conference (just 0.2 behind the leader) and 39th in the nation - while Mitchell is averaging 19.8 per game - fourth in teh conference and 55th in the country. MItchell is also tops in the RMAC and 13th in Division II with 90 3-pointers - the second most 3-pointers in a single season in Cowboy history.

ABOUT DIXIE STATE | SEASON STATS
The Trailblazers since starting the season 5-8 have won 13 in a row starting with a 69-38 win over MSU Denver on Jan. 11. During the winning streak Dixie State has won by an average of 15.8 points with nine of the wins by double figures - including the last five contest.

The Trailblazers are coming off a 64-51 win over Westminster College on Friday - a game it led by as much as 24 points. Dixie State was led by Julien Ducree's 13 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks in just 24 minutes of play.

DSU leads the RMAC and are seventh in Division II in field goal percentage defense (39.4 percent) along with being tops in the conference and 32nd in the country in scoring defense - allowing 67.5 points per game.

Conway leads the Trailblazers in scoring (17.8) and rebounding (6.7) and is the only DSU player averaging double figures - though they have three players in Ducree (9.2), Price (8.7) and Jack Pagenkopf (8.0) averaging eight or more.