BOX SCORE | PODCAST

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — All but one player who stepped on the floor for the Dominican University of California men's basketball team put a mark in the scoring column on Thursday night as the Penguins notched the program's first-ever men's basketball win in Pacific West Conference action with a 68-59 defeat of Grand Canyon University.

The Penguins (4-10/1-2) got on the board first thanks to a Killian Larson free throw.  Gaby Ngoundjo gave GCU (6-13/0-3) the early advantage with the 'Lopes first bucket of the game and the Penguins soon found themselves trailing by four points. Under ten minutes, Dominican evened the score on an Alastair Flack jumper. GCU took another four point lead on a made Steven Morin three-pointer but Dominican tied it again with about four minutes to go.  An Austin Bryan jumper capped a 10-3 run that propelled Dominican back in front at 26-21 with just over two minutes to go in the first half. A 5-2 run by the 'Lopes pulled the game back within two points and Dominican headed into the locker room with the slim 28-26 lead.

T.J. Benson buried a three pointer to open the second half and give the 'Lopes the lead at 29-28. The lead bounced and back forth between the two teams until the 12-minute mark, when GCU pulled ahead by six on a Steven Morin three-ball. The Penguins responded by going on an up 8-0 run – a huge and-one play by Mike Wells got the run started and a three-pointer by Fox Mulholland capped the run to give the Penguins the lead at 48-46. The 'Lopes tied the game at 53-53 with 4:57 to go but huge buckets by Flack and Xander McNally sparked a 9-0 Dominican run that took the wind out of GCU's sails. A Marcos Ramos three-pointer cut the Dominican lead to four with exactly one minute to play but Dominican forced three turnovers in the final 60 seconds to push the lead back to nine.

Both teams shot the ball well, with the Penguins making a scorching 24-of-44 field goal attempts (.545) and the 'Lopes making 22-of-55 (.400). The Penguins also swiped 16 steals while forcing 22 GCU turnovers. Dominican's sharp shooting and ball pressure helped negate GCU's 37-25 rebounding advantage.

Bryan led all players with 17 points. McNally added 11 points, five blocks, and five steals. Ward added 10 points and snatched down five rebounds in the victory. Flack made four field goals en route to a 10 point night.

Benson led the 'Lopes with 16 points. Morin added 12 points in the loss.

The Dominican men will look for their second PacWest victory on Monday, Jan. 18 when the Dixie State College Red Storm visits the Conlan Center. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. with the women tipping off before at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 23's game against Academy of Art University, originally designated a home game for the Penguins, will now be a home game for AAU. The Thursday, Feb. 18 game will now be hosted by Dominican at the Conlan Center.