BOX SCORE

LAIE, HAWAII — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team gave NCAA II West Region seventh-ranked BYU-Hawaii an early scare but the Penguins would succumb late to the reigning Pacific West Conference champions, falling 87-69 at the Cannon Center on Saturday night.

Austin Bryan got Dominican (6-12/3-4) on the board first with a nothing-but-net three-pointer and the Penguins took a 5-2 lead on an Alex Ward up and under layup. PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Lucas Alves tied the game at 7-7 for BYU-Hawaii (12-5/6-2) with a layup and the Seasiders soon built a 25-15 lead. Four straight Xander McNally points spurred a six-point Penguin run that cut the lead to 25-21. Xavier Muldrow buried a three-pointer from the left corner to pull Dominican within two at 28-26 but the Seasiders answered with an 11-2 run and took a 43-34 lead into the half.

Dominican was called for 16 first-half fouls, which resulted in sending BYU-Hawaii to the line 25 times, 17 of which counted. The Penguins drained 12 of their 28 first-half field goals while BYU-Hawaii made 13 of their 23 attempts. Dominican was outrebounded 23-12 in the first half but made only 10 turnovers while forcing 13.

McNally slammed home an alley oop and Bryan followed that with a bucket to pull within six to start the second half.  A Killian Larson free throw trimmed the lead down to five but BYU-Hawaii answered again. Alves scored five straight points to double the lead back to 10. Dominican used a seven-point to cut the lead to three with 14 minutes to play. An 8-2 Seasider run extended the lead again and the gap began to widen. By the nine-minute mark, Dominican trailed by 12 and by the five-minute mark the deficit was 15. The teams exchanged chances at the free throw line in the final minutes, as both teams combined to shoot 74 free throws, 46 of which were taken by BYU-Hawaii. Mike Wells made a bucket and Ward finished his six-point effort with a dunk to trim the final outcome.

Dominican, who took more shots than BYU-Hawaii and made two more three-pointers, made 12 less free throws despite shooting a higher percentage (.765) than the Seasiders (.714). The Penguins were outrebounded 45-26 but made one less turnover than BYU-Hawaii.

Bryan, named PacWest Player of the Week two weeks ago and named to the Top 10 Honor Roll this past week, led all scorers with 24 points. McNally added 13 points in the loss.

The Seasiders, ranked first in the the Division II Bulletin preseason national basketball poll and the first National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll, were led by Marques Whippy's 19 points and 14 rebounds. Anthony Reilly went 11-of-12 from the free throw line and finished with 18 points. Alves, the PacWest Player of the Year the past seasons and was chosen to collect his third honor in the preseason, finished with 17 points in his fifth start back from knee surgery.

The Penguins, who have won three of their last five, travel to the other side of Oahu on Feb. 8 to face Chaminade University, famous for its upset of Virginia in 1982. On Feb. 10, the Dominican men face Hawai'i Pacific University and will finish their road trip through Hawai'i by hopping islands to face the University of Hawai'i, Hilo on Feb. 12. Tipoff for all three games is slated for 7:30 p.m. Hawaiian/9:30 p.m. Pacific.