Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — It was Senior Night in the Conlan Center for the Dominican University of California men's basketball team on Saturday and their younger teammates gave the seniors quite a send-off. A memorable one.

Junior Connor Haysbert scored 14 points off the bench, including Dominican's first five points in overtime to get the lead, then sophomore Dominique Taplin, the leading free throw shooter in the Pacific West Conference, sank three free throws to finish with 12 points as the Penguins escaped with a thrilling 80-78 victory over Academy of Art University.

Senior Jammall Clark led Dominican with 18 points and 12 rebounds, both game-highs, and junior Myles Carrillo added 11 points. Derek Ober, one of five Penguins' seniors honored on the court before the game, contributed 10 points to become the fifth player to score in double figures for the Penguins (16-10/12-6). Another senior, Jacob Noisat, had nine points and seven rebounds.

It was the eighth victory in the last 11 games for the Penguins. With the win, Dominican, picked to finish seventh in a preseason coaches' poll, clinched the No. 4 seed and will play fifth-seeded BYU-Hawaii in opening round of inaugural Pacific West Conference Tournament at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday at Azusa Pacific University.

“We survived tonight and that tournament's going to be survive-and-advance. You've got to be prepared,” said Dominican Head Coach Booker T. Harris. “But we've got to grow up and be smart.”

The Penguins, after blowing a 10-point lead, were whistled for two technical fouls in the second half. They had to rally from a three-point deficit in regulation to take the lead on two technical foul shots by Carrillo followed by two free throws by Clark with 1:55 to play. Clark made 10-of-12 foul shots in the contest and had three blocked shots.

However, after Haysbert missed two foul shots with 1:07 remaining with a chance to boost Dominican's lead to five, the Urban Knights (9-16/7-11) tied the game on a three-point play by Alex Carmon. Carmon had an opportunity to win it, but missed a shot at the end of regulation. Haysbert rebounded that miss.

“I was really frustrated but all my teammates, especially the seniors, said brush it off. We've got overtime,” Haysbert said. “I was definitely determined to make up for those [missed free throws] in overtime so I was going to work that much harder.”

Haysbert's three-point play with 3:35 to go in the extra five-minute session put the Penguins ahead 77-74 then Taplin, who has made 48 of his last 53 foul shots, sank three of four to preserve the lead. He has averaged more than 10 points per game in his last 16 games.

The victory improved Dominican's home record this season to 9-3, the most home wins by the men's team in Conlan Center since the Penguins went 10-4 at home in the 2007-08 season. Their 11 conference wins is the most in their four-history in the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference and the 15th overall win was the most since the 2008-09 season when they were members of the NAIA.

Dominican outrebounded Academy of Art 44-34 in the game, 20-12 on the offensive end led by Clark's five offensive caroms. The Penguins now have a record of 15-2 this season when they outrebound their opponent and are undefeated in their last seven games when Carrillo makes at least two 3-point shots. He connected on his first three treys on Saturday night.