Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Sophomore
Connor Haysbert scored a team-high 15 points off the bench but the Dominican University of California men's basketball team had a difficult time getting started on Monday night in a 86-63 non-conference loss at Central Washington.
Jacob Noisat contributed 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds, but he had a rare off night shooting, making only 4-of-13 shots. Dominican (1-8) shot 37 percent (23-of-62) from the floor as a team, losing to the Wildcats (6-2) who last season won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 26-4 record.
Mark Lewis added nine points for the Penguins and teammates
Myles Carrillo,
Jammall Clark, and freshman
Dartanyon Meggs each scored eight points.
The Penguins started slow, going 2-for-10 from the floor while committing eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game to fall behind by 10 points.
"We got off to a bad start. We didn't execute and our energy level wasn't good," said Dominican Head Coach
Booker T. Harris. "It's hard to play catch up."
Dominican made a mini-run as Haysbert tallied off a pass by Lewis then Lewis netted a pair of free throws to pull within seven points, 22-15. But each time the Penguins pushed to cut into the deficit, the Wildcats seemed to answer with a 3-pointer. They made 6-of-8 beyond the arc in the first half.
"Connor took advantage of penetration against their defense and getting around the basket and scoring," Harris said. "But defensively we lost their [best] shooters. Guys we knew coming in who could hurt us from the three-point line."
Central Washington, with a 13-3 run, built its lead to 18 and held a 44-26 advantage at intermission. Dominican trimmed the Central Washington lead down to 14 points in the second half. Haysbert, who connected on 7-of-10 field goal tries in 21 minutes on the floor, scored on a pass by Carrillo (who had a team-high four assists) to make it 51-37 with 14:22 left in the game. But the Wildcats, who were averaging 86.6 points a game coming into the contest, gradually pulled away.
Five Central Washington players scored in double figures and the Wildcats combined to block nine Dominican shots.
The Penguins play their second game in as many nights on Tuesday, traveling to Seattle Pacific University which has a 6-1 record this season against Pacific West Conference teams. The Falcons (8-2 overall), who beat Arizona in Tucson in an exhibition game on Oct. 27, were ranked No. 19 in the nation last week in NCAA Div. II men's basketball.
