ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Leading by as much as 19 points early in the second half, the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team held off a late rally by host Dixie State to secure a 72-66 victory on Saturday night at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah. 

The ninth-ranked Broncos improve to 2-0 this season while the Trailblazers open their 2018-19 campaign at 0-1.

CPP led from start to finish for the second straight game, but not without resistance from Dixie State down the stretch.  The Broncos held a lead of 19 points at 42-23 after Justin Young threw down a slam dunk with 16:45 to go in regulation.  However, the Trailblazers went on a furious 36-21 run over the next 13 minutes to come within just two points at 63-61, but the Broncos never surrendered the lead, pushing the lead back out to five points at 69-64 after a three-ball by Riley Schaefer with 30 seconds to play all but sealed the deal.

Dwight Ramos led the way with 26 points on 8 of 16 shooting, 6 of 10 from three-point range, while grabbing seven rebounds.  William Christmas added 13 points and Jordan Ogundiran had 11 in Saturday's win.  Schaefer tallied eight points and a game-high eight rebounds. 

As a team, CPP connected on 45.1 percent of its shots (23 of 51), including half of its 22 attempts from long range.  On the other end of the floor, the Broncos held the Trailblazers to just 32.8 percent from the hardwood on 19 of 58 shooting.

Dixie State was led by the 22 points from Matt Conway and 13 off the bench from Wade Miller.

Cal Poly Pomona continues its five-game roadtrip after the Thanksgiving holiday when it opens CCAA play at San Francisco State on November 29th at 7:30 pm.