Box Score SACRAMENTO — On paper, Tuesday night's men's basketball match-up between Dominican University of California and NCAA Division I Sacramento State out of the Big Sky Conference appeared to be a mismatch.

The Penguins were coming off a pair of close losses and had never beaten an NCAA Div. I foe in five tries since becoming a NCAA Div. II member in 2009. Meanwhile the Hornets were entering the non-conference contest with a 4-1 record, tied for the best start in school history. Their season's résumé included a 74-71 win at Utah and three games in a row against teams coached by former NBA players.

On the court, however, the Penguins showed they were up for the challenge. Dominican led the Hornets 54-53 following a Devin Golston basket off a pass from Jacob Noisat with under nine minutes to play and was tied at 61-61 with 4:44 remaining after a putback by freshman Matt Hayes. But the Hornets, led by senior John Dickson's career-high 29 points, scored 10 consecutive points to avoid a stunning upset and escape with a hard-fought 77-68 victory.

“It was an opportunity for our guys to compete against guys on a bigger platform and see how they measure up,” said Head Coach Booker T. Harris. “They can see what the difference is between [Division I] teams that are winning and teams that are trying to build.”

The Penguins trailed by only two points at intermission and three times took the lead early in the second half on three-pointers by Myles Carrillo and Ricky Wofford, who contributed 10 points and three assists. Carrillo's basket gave Dominican a 39-38 lead.

The Hornets assumed early command of the game. They built an eight-point lead, 14-6, but Dominican tightened its defense and stormed back beginning with a Jammall Clark jumper at the 14:34 mark of the first half. That initiated a 14-3 run by the Penguins in which five different players scored. Golston tied the game at 17 with a dunk off a backdoor pass by Wofford, then Carrillo catapulted Dominican into the lead with a three-pointer, forcing Sac State to call timeout.

The Hornets rallied to regain the lead, 32-26, yet the Penguins finished the half strong. Noisat sank both ends of a bonus free throw situation then dunked off an offensive rebound, one of six in the half by Dominican.

The Penguins were even or better than the Hornets (5-1) in every statistical category except at the free throw line, where Sac State converted 19-of-21 foul shots while Dominican attempted only eight free throws.

Noisat and Golston paced the Penguins (2-3) with 12 points apiece and Carrillo netted a season-high 11 points. Noisat, who had a game-high seven rebounds, helped Dominican's subs outscore Sac State's 26-15. Dominican freshman Christopher Schwartz-Edminsten had five of those points, much to the delight of his fans in the crowd from Sacramento Waldorf High School, where he led the state last season in prep scoring (34.1 ppg).

“We were definitely up for the game,” said Harris. “Part of the reason our guys knew we were up against a D-I school is when they saw 'Dominican' go across the [ESPN] ticker.”

On Saturday, Dec. 1, Dominican begins Pacific West Conference play at Holy Names University, one of four new members in the 14-team league. Game time is 4:00 p.m. in Oakland.