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AZUSA, Calif. —  Playing in its first-ever Pacific West Conference Tournament game, the Dominican University of California men's basketball team suffered its worst shooting performance and most difficult loss of the season on Thursday, losing  65-64 to fifth-seeded BYU-Hawaii in the Felix Events Center at Azusa Pacific University on Thursday.

The fourth-seeded Penguins (16-11), who trailed most of the game, battled back and rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to take a four-point lead, 60-56, on a Jammall Clark basket off a Devin Golston pass with 3:30 to play. The Seasiders responded, scoring the next seven points until Clark answered with another hoop, bringing Dominican within a point, 63-62, with 1:47 to play. Teammate Ricky Wofford then put the Penguins in front, 64-63, with 1:18  to go.

“It was the same old story all season,” said Dominican Head Coach Booker T. Harris, who was named PacWest Co-Coach of the Year earlier in the day. “The guys showed a lot of grit and determination. It took a lot of hard work to get out of that hole and fight back. To their credit, our kids beared down. They've done that all year long.”

They just couldn't finish it this time.

Dominique Taplin, the leading free throw shooter (.895) in the PacWest who had made 48 of his last  53 foul shots, missed two consecutive foul shots for the first time this season with 24.2 seconds remaining with a chance to extend Dominican's lead. Then, on the other end of the floor, after he blocked a shot by Bracken Funk, Taplin fouled him on his second attempt. With 9.2 seconds to go, Funk, a .695 foul shooter this season on the 11th-ranked team in the 14-team conference in free throw shooting, sank the game-tying and game-winning free throws.

Harris believed he had the right guy, Taplin, on the foul line at the right time.

“I'd put him back in the line again and he'd make it. That's my guy,” Harris said.

Dominican had two more chances to win the game, but Wofford missed a shot from the foul line then, following a timeout, Clark missed a 3-pointer from the corner off an inbounds pass to end the game.

The Penguins missed 15 of their first 19 shots in the game and wound up shooting a season-low .328 field goal percentage (19-of-58). Ironically, their second poorest shooting effort of the year came here on the same floor on Feb. 6, an 81-63 loss to Azusa Pacific.

Golston paced the Penguins with a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds and Wofford added 11 points in the final game of his Dominican career.  Senior Jacob Noisat, in his last game, had a game-best 11 rebounds. Clark also played his final game for the Penguins, scoring eight of nine points in the second half.

Freshman Christopher Schwartz Edmisten tallied all nine of his points in the first half, rallying Dominican from an early 13-2 deficit (after BYU-Hawaii connected on their first five shots and first four 3-pointers of the game) to a 30-29 lead with 2:54 left in the opening 20 minutes.

For the second time this season, the Penguins actually outrebounded the taller Seasiders 45-37 in the contest.But it was only third time in 18 games this season that Dominican has outrebounded its foe and lost a game. The Penguins, who improved from ninth (.615) to third in the conference in foul shooting (.744) as team this season, also made 21 of 27 free throws against BYU-Hawaii. Yet Dominican couldn't overcome a poor shooting performance from the floor and 16 turnovers, which seem to come at the most inopportune times when the Penguins were on the verge of extending their runs or leads.

“We had a hard time converting,” Harris said. “They did a great job of keeping us in our half-court offense and forcing us to make plays and contesting shots. They knew what was at stake.”

So did the Penguins who nevertheless delivered a memorable season. They won eight of their final 11 regular-season games for the second year in a row and qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2009. They won 16 games overall, the most in their four-year history in NCAA Division II, and posted a 9-3 record at home, their best record in the Conlan Center since they went 10-4 in 2007-08.

And, on Jan. 14 of this year, the Penguins beat BYU-Hawaii for the first time ever. They almost did it again.