ST. GEORGE, Utah—Allowing a season-high in points, Western Oregon dropped its first game of the season with an 80-70 setback at Dixie State University on Saturday.

With the win, Dixie State (2-1) claimed the tournament title on their home court inside the Burns Arena and evened the all-time series between the two teams at 3-3.

Western Oregon (2-1) trailed for the bulk of the second half but used dominant work on the boards to eventually work their way back to a 61-59 lead following an Etan Collins' layup at the 7:27 mark.

Boosted by 36 trips to the free throw line, including 19 in the second half, the home team outscored the Wolves 22-9 the rest of the way to claim the win.

A Dalven Brushier 3-pointer with 1:14 to play kept the WOU hopes alive with the score resting at 74-70, but DSU turned around and connected on their last four free throw attempts to clinch the contest.

Overall, Dixie State was 31-of-36 (86.1 percent) from the line compared 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) for WOU.

Hitting 5-of-6 from distance, Brushier led the Wolves with 16 points. Riley Hawken added 11 while Kaleb Warner and Bryan Berg chipped in with 9 points each.

DSU's Matt Conway led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Western Oregon will open GNAC play next week when it hosts Simon Fraser on Thursday, Nov. 29 and Western Washington on Saturday, Dec. 1. Both contests are set for a 7 p.m. start inside the New P.E. Gymnasium.