BOX SCORE

HONOLULU, HAWAII — Coming off an overtime victory over Chaminade on Monday, the Dominican University of California men's basketball team was looking for an upset of first-place Hawai'i Pacific University on Wednesday night. The Penguins forced HPU to overtime but the Penguins eventually fell 89-84 in Pacific West Conference play.

For the first time in 16 games, Dominican Head Coach Bret Tovani changed his starting lineup and it proved highly effective throughout regulation. HPU (17-4/9-1) scored the game's first four points before a Mark Lewis three-pointer from the left corner put Dominican (7-13/4-5) in front with 16:25 to go. Ray Murdock scored five straight points to extend the HPU lead to 21-15 before Lewis found Killian Larson under the basket at the 8-minute mark to tie things at 23-23. Austin Bryan snapped an 11-of-11 streak at the free throw line but made his second free throw to pull the Penguins within two and tied things at 26-26 the next trip down. A Mike Wells three-pointer put the Penguins up 29-26 with 5:30 to go in the first half and another Wells three-pointer beat the shot clock to extend the Penguin lead to 34-28. CJ Jackson made two free throws to cut the lead to two before Larson knocked down a pair of his own to send Dominican into halftime with a 38-34 lead.

Jackson scored the first four points of the second half to tie things up before Bryan made a pair of free throws to put Dominican back ahead. Daniel Ella found Fox Mulholland to keep the Penguins ahead 56-53 but consecutive possessions by HPU sent the Sea Warriors in front 59-56. Dominican fell behind by five before a deep three-ball by Lewis regained the Penguin lead with six and a half minutes to go. Dominican again fell behind by five with 1:30 to go but the Penguins rallied back. Lewis had a steal at halfcourt and was fouled on the layup to cut the lead to 76-74. Reggie New made his first free throw in conference play to put HPU up by three but Bryan made a three in the corner with 24 seconds left on the clock to send the game into overtime.

With all their big men fouled out, the Penguins had a hard time stopping Jackson in overtime. Jackson scored the first four points of the game and the Penguins would pull within a point in the final minute but Jackson made a pair of free throws with 41 seconds on the clock to push the lead to four. Kameron Steinhoff added a free throw to put the game out of reach.

Bryan led the Penguins with 25 points and went 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Lewis added 18 points. Alastair Flack and Larson scored 10 points apiece and Larson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Wells added eight points in the loss. Xavier Muldrow pulled down six rebounds in 32 minutes and his first start of the season.

CJ Jackson led all players with 37 points and 13 rebounds. Steinhoff added 13 points. Ray Murdock and Reggie New each finished the night with 11 points.

The Penguins shot .421 for the game, a smidge above HPU's league-leading .418 allowed. HPU surpassed it's league-leading 42.7 rebounds per game by outrebounding the Penguins 50-26. Dominican is averaging 11.5 steals per game and recorded 11 steals on the night.

The Penguins now head to Hilo to face the University of Hawai'i, Hilo on Friday, Feb. 12. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Hawaiian/9:30 p.m. Pacific.