BOX SCORE

ST GEORGE, Utah — The last five minutes of the first half were the difference on Thursday night at the Burns Center, as the Dominican University of California men's basketball fell 73-64 to first-place Dixie State College in Pacific West Conference play.

It was the first game for Dominican (9-15/6-7) since the Penguins lost the PacWest's leading scorer, freshman Austin Bryan, to a season-ending knee injury. The Penguins emptied the bench in the first half in an effort to fend off the Red Storm (17-5/11-2), ranked fifth in the NCAA West Regional poll. Dominican stayed even until 21-21 with five minutes to play. The last five minutes of the half would turn out to cost the Penguins as the Red Storm fired off a 13-2 run that sent Dominican into halftime trailing 35-23.

The Red Storm opened the second half by rattling off four straight points. From there, Dixie State built a 16-point lead. An Alastair Flack three-pointer from the left corner trimmed the Red Storm lead down to 10 at 58-48 with five minutes to go. The Penguins cut the lead to as little as seven with under three minutes but Dominican was forced to foul and the Red Storm knocked down seven free throws in the final minute.

Dominican struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just 10-of-33 (.303), including an abysmal 1-of-13 (.077) from behind the three-point, to finish the night 24-of-65 (.369) and 3-of-22 (.136) from deep. The Red Storm fared better, making 24-of-47 (.551) field goals, but just 3-of-13 (.231) three-pointers.

The Penguins forced 18 turnovers while making 14 but were outrebounded 39 to 31.
Killian Larson led Dominican with 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Flack got the start and finished the night with 11 points. Alex Ward scored 13 points and led the Penguins with eight rebounds.

Donovan Plunkett led all players with 18 points. Jeremiah Barnes added 14 points and Adam Ross scored 11 points. Ross and Zach Robbins each pulled down eight rebounds.

The Dominican men play their final road game in Ariz. on Saturday, Feb. 27 when they face Grand Canyon University. Tipoff with the 'Lopes is set for an early 3:00 p.m./2:00 p.m. Pacific gametime.

Dominican's 2009-2010 basketball schedule, its inaugural season in NCAA Division II, will conclude with home games on Tuesday night, March 2 against BYU-Hawaii, and Saturday night, March 6 against Chaminade University. On March 2, Dr. Ed Kujawa, Dean of the School of Education and Counseling Psychology, and Dr. Marty Nelson, Dean of the School of Health and Natural Sciences, will serve as honorary coaches while the 19-piece Dominican Jazz Band, directed by Mark Culbertson, will perform.