Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — You could call Dominican University of California's impressive come-from-behind victory on Monday night “BYU-Hawaii Five-0.”

By upsetting the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders, the first place team in the Pacific West Conference, by a score of 80-75, the Dominican men's basketball team ran its won-loss home record this season to 5-0, its best start at home since the 2004-05 season when they were 14-0 in the Conlan Center en route to a California Pacific Conference championship and NAIA national tournament appearance that ended with a 27-8 record. In two seasons under Head Coach Booker T. Harris, Dominican is now 11-4 on its home court.

“We told the guys they need to build a reputation here that it's a tough place to play,” Harris said. “We talked about the importance of taking care of business at home.”

Led by Jammall Clark's 13 points and three steals, the Penguins placed five players in double figures and, with Jacob Noisat grabbing a game-high 12 caroms, outrebounded bigger BYU-Hawaii 42-38. Dominican (8-6/4-2) is now 8-1 this season when it outrebounds its opponent.

In addition, the Penguins held the league's highest scoring team to eight field goals and 30 points in the second half when the Seasiders shot 27.6 percent from the floor. Dominican limited BYU-Hawaii's leading scorer and the league's best shooter, 6-foot-10 DeAndre Medlock, to six shots and eight points.

“We just came in at halftime and preached team 'D' because we gave up way too many points (45) in the first half,” said Clark, who has scored 60 points in his last five games while shooting 54 percent (25-of-46) from the floor. “We went out there and executed what the coaches told us to do.”

Said Harris, “We told the guys all week that they get out and score. We knew they were going to attempt shots and make shots so we needed to get back defensively as well as we could and take that away.”

Offensively, Myles Carrillo and freshman Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten added 12 points apiece and Devin Golston, who had led the Penguins in scoring in each of the previous seven games, contributed 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Dominique Taplin came off the bench to score 10 points, grab nine rebounds and block two shots and freshman Matt Hayes had eight points and a game-high four assists to hand BYU-Hawaii (7-6/4-1) its first PacWest loss of the season.

“It feels real good, especially after they beat us at the buzzer here last year,” Clark said. “That was hard to take.”
It was Dominican's first ever win over the Seasiders in seven tries and avenged a last-second home loss to BYU-Hawaii last season after the Penguins blew an 11-point lead in the second half. On Monday night, they never trailed after Clark sank two free throws with 17:45 left in the game and built their lead as high as 10 points on a Noisat dunk off a Taplin assist for a 75-65 advantage with 2:38 to play.

“Everyone, when their number was, called took advantage of the opportunity,” Harris said. “That's the way it's been all year long. As much as we'd loved to have a guy who could gives us 19 points every single night, we realize we have to do it by committee.”

BYU-Hawaii started fast, hitting six of its first seven shots and four times built a seven-point advantage. The Penguins, however, rallied beginning with a three-point shot by Carrillo. Schwartz-Edmisten added four quick points, including two free throws, to cap a 9-2 run that tied the game at 19.

The Seasiders regained the lead, extending it to five points, before Dominican came from behind again. Carrillo scored off a steal and assist by Derek Ober, Connor Haysbert took a charge, then Hayes drilled a three-pointer to tie the game again, this time at 39-39. When Schwartz-Edmisten netted a three-point shot from the corner, the Penguins used an 8-1 run to seize their first lead of the game, 42-40.

The Penguins return to the Conlan Center on Monday, Jan. 21 for another PacWest match-up. They play Chaminade at 7:30 p.m. Live coverage will be available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.