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SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — All five starters scored in double digits for the Dominican University of California men's basketball team but the Penguins fell 90-81 to NCAA II West Region sixth-ranked BYU-Hawaii on Tuesday night at the Conlan Center in Pacific West Conference play.

The Penguins (9-17/6-9) played tough early on but the Seasiders (17-5/11-2) went ahead by 10 points midway through the first half. Virgil Buensuceso's layup at 7:17 extended the BYU-Hawaii lead to 14. Alastair Flack's layup capped an eight point run that cut the deficit to six but the Seasiders pounded the ball inside to go into the locker room leading 44-31 at recess.

BYU-Hawaii looked to be pulling away by the 12-minute mark, stretching the advantage 22 points, the game's biggest deficit, on a Marques Whippy jumper. Six straight Dominican points trimmed the lead to 11 and an Alex Ward layup pulled the Penguins within 10 with a minute and a half left in the game. Dominican was forced to foul in the final minute and cut the lead to eight on Mike Wells' three-pointer but never got any closer.

Dominican had a better second half offensively, outscoring the Seasider 50-46. The Penguins improved from 12-of-29 (.414) to 20-of-32 (.625) in the second half to finish 32-of-61 (.525) for the game. The Penguins were outrebounded slightly, 27-25 and made 18 turnovers, three more than BYU-Hawaii.

Ward led the Penguins with a season-high 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting and pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds. Xander McNally added a season-high of his own with 18 points. Flack added 11 points and Killian Larson and Mark Lewis each provided 10 points in the loss. McNally dished out five assists apiece.

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, have now won ten straight. BYU-Hawaii was led by Alves, the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year, who poured in 28 points, including 18 in the first half, and a team-high seven rebounds. Buensuceso added 19 points and Tsung-Hsien Chang chipped in 13 points in the victory.

Dominican's 2009-2010 basketball schedule, its inaugural season in NCAA Division II, will conclude with a home game on Saturday night, March 6 against Pacific West Conference opponent Chaminade University. The team's seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony.