Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Jacob Noisat came off the bench to notch 12 points and seven rebounds, both team-highs, but a late and furious Dominican University of California comeback fell short on Saturday night in a 74-69 men's basketball non-league loss to Western Washington University.

Trailing 67-59 with 4:13 left in the game, the Penguins (0-5) went on an 11-3 run to pull within two points, 70-68, with 1:42 to go on a Myles Carrillo fastbreak lay-up, but the host Vikings (5-1) avoided the upset to close out the game. Western Washington, which was a preseason pick to finish third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, needed to shoot almost 54 percent from the floor to keep Dominican at bay.

“We're slowly getting better and executing the things we practice and sticking with what gets us success,” said Penguins Head Coach Booker T. Harris. “The guys are sticking together, which is good, and they're seeing improvement with what the coaching staff is trying to get them to accomplish.”

Derek Ober, in his best performance of the season, added 11 points and sparked the Dominican rally by hitting his third 3-point shot of the second half with 3:38 remaining. Senior co-captain Mark Lewis also tallied 11 points for the Penguins.

The last time the two teams played, on November 4, Dominican led in the second half but WWU broke open the game with a streak of 13 straight points to notch a 74-61 win in the opening game of Disney's Division II West Coast Tip-Off Classic in Anaheim.

With senior Xander McNally and sophomore Connor Haysbert making their first starts of the season, the Penguins forged to a 10-6 lead on Saturday night as McNally and Haysbert combined for eight of those points. The Vikings rallied to take leads but each time Dominican answered. A three-pointer by Ryan McIntosh, a slam dunk by Noisat and baskets by Jammall Clark and Haysbert allowed the Penguins to recapture leads.

A layup by Lewis gave Dominican a 27-24 advantage and a Lewis jumper tied the game at 29 but WWU outscored Dominican 16-7 over the final four minutes of the half to take a 40-34 lead at halftime.

Lewis led the Penguins with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first half. In fact, he and McNally between them did not miss a field goal or free throw attempt in the first half when Dominican as a team shot 51 percent (15-of-29). McNally, who did not play the first time the first time the Penguins played the Vikings because of a back injury, also had four of his game-high assists in the first half.

In the second half, the Penguins rallied again. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ober, consecutive dunks by Noisat and a pair of free throws by Clark gave Dominican its last lead at 54-52 with 9:44 to go in the contest.

“We had some lapses,” Harris said. “We had our chances. The game was close then a technical foul here and a couple of missed assignments there. That's what hurt us. We're slowly getting there. It's another one of those deals where you always want to win when you know you're close.”

The Penguins return to action on Friday, November 25 in Belmont when they meet Sonoma State University in the Notre Dame de Namur Classic. Game time is 5:00 p.m.