BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team made a second-half run at BYU-Hawaii on Tuesday night but a comeback attempt fell shy as the Penguins eventually fell 77-68 to the Seasiders in Pacific West Conference play at the Conlan Center.

The Penguins (3-20/3-10) fell behind by as much as 12 and went into halftime trailing by 11. In the opening period, Dominican attempted more free throws (11 to 6) but made just five. Despite being down 11, the Penguins never looked to be out of it and looked evenly matched across the stat sheet.

Dominican pounded the ball inside, outscoring the Seasiders (13-6/8-2) – who came into the game ranked No. 7 in the NCAA Division II West Region poll and in a four-way tie for first place in the PacWest – by 20 points in the paint. Sophomore center Killian Larson, named to the PacWest Weekly Top 10 Honor Roll for the sixth consecutive week, had another impressive night in the key, pouring in a team-high 20 points and game-high 10 points. It was his seventh double-double of the season. Freshman center Connor Haysbert did his part inside as well and added 15 points on 6-of-8 (.750) shooting.

Guard Jake Dastrup scored 16 points in the second half though and finished the game with 31 to help the Seasiders dash a late Dominican comeback. With 10 minutes to go, junior guard Xander McNally found Haysbert for a layup that capped a 14-3 run and gave the Penguins the 48-47 lead. Sophomore guad Ian Collins found freshman guard Brendan Holmes for one of his four three-pointers to extend the Dominican lead 60-55. The Seasiders regrouped and finished the game on a 22-8 run, taking the lead for good at 1:37 on a Junior Ale three-pointer.

Heath Gameren and Jet Chang added 11 points each in the Seasiders victory.

McNally added 10 points, five assists, three steals, and a block for Dominican. Holme's four three-pointers made were a career high as he went 4-of-5 (.800), all from behind the arc, and he finished with a career-high 12 points.

The Dominican men return to action on Saturday, Feb. 19 when Chaminade University comes calling. The Penguins will look to avenge a close 48-43 Jan. 10 loss to the Silver Swords. That game will be broadcast live from the Conlan Center. Audio is available at http://radio.dominican.edu and live video is available at www.dominicanathletics.com/livevideo.