BOX SCORE

SEATTLE, Wash. – The Dominican University of California men's basketball team was never quite able to catch up with Western Washington University after spotting the Vikings an early lead, eventually falling 87-72 during the final day of the men's basketball Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion.

Dominican (0-3) spotted Western Washington (5-1) a 19-4 lead in the first five and a half minutes of play. The Penguins cut the deficit to 29-19 with a 15-10 run of their own and pulled within six points at the four minute mark when Longview, Wash. native Tyler Sokol made a jumper in the paint. The Penguins took a big blow at the 4:21 mark when starter James McKinnon left the game due to an injury after taking a charge in the paint for Dominican. Dave Vanderjagt hit a buzzer beating jumper to send WWU into the locker room with a 44-34 halftime lead.

The Penguins came within a point of tying the game at 66-65 with 5:35 to play when Austin Bryan sank to free throws. The Vikings responded with a late 21-7 run to finish the game and record their fourth straight victory.

"We gave up a big lead but fought back and fought our way right back into it," said Dominican Head Coach Bret Tovani. "We're going through some growing pains right now but we leave Seattle with a lot of experience this weekend against two proven GNAC teams and that will help us down the road."

Bryan led all scorers with 28 points and added a team-leading seven rebounds before fouling out for Dominican. Puyallup, Wash. native Killian Larson added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. Alex Ward tacked on 10 points and five rebounds in the loss. Sokol made 4-of-5 shots to end his night with eight points.

Preseason All-American Morris Anderson played a full 40 minutes and scored 20 points to lead five double-figure scorers for Western Washington. Zach Bruce scored 18 points for the Vikings. Derrick Webb added 16 points and Rory Blanche and Harold McAllister each added 10 points in the win.

After the game, it was announced that Bryan was one of five players named to the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic All-Tournament Team. He joined tournament MVP Chris Banchero and Rafael Moreira of Seattle Pacific and Morris Anderson and Zach Bruce from Western Washington.

Dominican returns home to California for the NDNU Classic hosted by Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. The Penguins will face Western Oregon on Nov. 27 and former Cal Pac rival CSU East Bay on Nov. 28. Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.