BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – It was a Donning of a new era in Dominican University of California men's basketball.

After two exhibition games and a scrimmage with Dominican Alumni as a new NCAA Division II entrant, the Penguins hit the big time on Monday night, losing 92-66 to the University of San Francisco Dons.

Don't be fooled by the final score. Playing an NCAA Division I opponent for the first time since a preseason game at Nevada Reno in Nov. 4, 2004, the Penguins trailed by only seven points, 54-47, with 14 minutes left in the game before the Dons, who were picked to finish fourth in a preseason West Coast Conference poll, needed all their firepower to pull away.

“It was a moral victory because we came out knowing it was going to be a very tough game. They're bigger, stronger, more athletic than us,” said Dominican freshman Austin Bryan, who scored a game-high 33 points. “We came out and had a great first half and turned some heads. That's what we came here to accomplish.”

The Penguins – and their fans – stunned USF early in the game. Backed by a student body crowd that was larger and louder than the Dons', Dominican raced to a 15-3 lead. A three-pointer by Bryan and a steal and layup by sophomore Xander McNally capped a 9-0 run by the Penguins for a 12-point lead at the 15:18 mark of the first half.

Dominican hit 7 of their first 10 shots, remarkable considering that the Penguins had to cancel a scheduled shoot-around at USF's Memorial Gym on Monday afternoon when it was learned that only three players did not have classes to attend.

Yet they proceeded to shoot the lights out of the gym and blind side the Dons.

“That was pretty unexpected. None of us saw it going that way at all,” Bryan said. “I was thinking we need to keep this up. There are two halves to a game.”

Dominican's lead was at four, 23-19, when Alex Ward banked in a 3-pointer before the Dons staged a comeback. They took their first lead with 6:25 left in the first half and Dior Lowhorn helped them extend it. USF closed the first half with a 23-10 run as Lowhorn had 13 points and led the Dons with second-chance points.

The Penguins were outrebounded 18-10, committed 13 turnovers, and attempted only two free throws in the first half to 14 by the Dons.

Playing in front of his parents, Ted and Josie, who came down from Wenatchee, Wash. to see their son make his official collegiate debut, Bryan had 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the first half. But the Dons, after starting the half by missing 12 of their first 18 shots, finished the half by making nine of their last 13.

Nevertheless, the Penguins pulled within four points, 47-43, on a four-point play early in the second half. Bryan sank a pair of technical foul shots then McNally, making his first start of the season, scored on a driving layup off the ensuing possession. Dominican had chances on its next two possessions to cut the USF lead to two points or less, but the Penguins turned the ball over without getting off a shot.

The Penguins had 24 turnovers in the contest.

The Dons put the game away beginning at the 13:36 mark of the second half when Lowhorn, the WCC's leading scorer in each of the past two seasons, netted a 3-point play to spark a 29-9 tear. USF had a 30-point lead with two and a half minutes left in the game yet still had its original starting lineup on the floor.

Lowhorn, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound senior, had 22 points and five offensive rebounds for the Dons, who outrebounded Dominican 39-25, 16-6 off the offensive glass. Kwane Vaughn, connecting on 7-of-8 field goal tries in the second half, topped the Dons in scoring with 24 points.

For the Penguins, Bryan's 33 points came on 20 shots in 28 minutes. McNally, plagued with foul trouble, had a game-high eight assists and nearly slammed into Dominican President Joseph R. Fink and his wife, Denise, in the front row hustling to retrieve a loose ball late in the game.

Ward, the only senior in Dominican's starting lineup, had 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. Bret Tovani, the Penguins' head coach, started three freshmen and a sophomore for the third consecutive game.

In the end, the young Dominican team made a good account of itself. Fink, in fact, visited the Penguins' locker room after the game to give them a pep talk and congratulate the players on their effort.

“As a first year Division II program, we just wanted to come out here and earn some respect from the area,” Bryan said. “I think we accomplished that.”

Dominican will play Seattle Pacific University in its Sodexho Tip Off Classic in Seattle on Friday night. Seattle Pacific returns four starters from a 19-10 team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Div. II tournament last season. On Saturday night, the Penguins will play Western Washington University, which also qualified for the NCAA Div. II tournament last season.

USF will play at Arizona State University on Friday night. The Sun Devils played in the Pac-10 tournament championship game last season.