BOX SCORE

PHOENIX, AZ — The Dominican University of California men's basketball defeated Grand Canyon University in January for the Penguins' first-ever PacWest men's basketball victory but the Penguins were unable to complete the season sweep, falling 67-55 to the 'Lopes on Saturday afternoon in Pacific West Conference play.

The 'Lopes (14-16/8-6) shot the ball well, draining 10-of-24 (.417) three pointers while the Penguins (9-16/6-8) continued to struggle from deep, shooting just 3-of-13 (.231).

Dominican jumped out to an early 7-3 lead but the 'Lopes responded after a timeout with a 14-point run and took as large as a 15-point lead in the first half. Xander McNally spun to get open and sank a jump shot to trim GCU's halftime lead to 32-19.

The 'Lopes extended the lead to 20 but the Penguins shot the ball well in the second half (12-of-18, .667) and used  a seven-point run to get back into the contention. After trimming the GCU lead to 10, Dominican fought to get back but would never get closer than 12.

Dominican shot 20-of-40 from the field, taking 11 less attempts than GCU, and shot 10-of-13 (.769) from the free throw line in the second half after not getting to the line once in the first half. Rebounding, turnovers, and steals were about even with GCU grabbing 24 boards to the Penguins' 22, Dominican making one more turnover with 23, and GCU snatching one more steal with 14.

Alastair Flack had his best offensive game of the season and fell two points shy of matching his career high (Feb. 20, 2007 at Cal State East Bay) and finished with 19 points for Domiincan. Killian Larson finished with nine points despite early foul trouble. Fox Mulholland added eight points in the loss. Alex Ward led the Penguins with five rebounds and McNally dished out four assits in the effort.

TJ Benson led the 'Lopes with 14 points. Steven Morin nailed four three-pointers for a dozen points and Justin Wesolowski added 11 points in the win.

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.