SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Dominique Taplin scored a season-high 27 points and matched a career-high 13 rebounds but the Dominican University of California men's basketball team couldn't overcome a slow start in an 83-78 loss to No. 16 California Baptist.

Taplin shot 10 of 17 from the field and hit four of his five three-pointers. His 10 defensive rebounds makes him Dominican's career leader in the Division II era with 268 defensive rebounds. He surpassed Connor Haysbert '14, who held the previous mark with 262.

Matt Hayes added a season-high 21 points with three three-pointers and a perfect 6-of-6 night at the line. Dominican made eight three-pointers in total, with the other from Jonny Bates. The Penguins outshot their opponents from deep (42.1 percent to 36 percent) and overall (50.9 percent to 48.4 percent), as well as at the free throw line, where both teams made 14 attempts. The Penguins also matched the Lancers on the glass with both teams grabbing 35 rebounds. The Lancers made two more field goals, including one three pointer to take the contest.

Dominican held a brief 6-4 lead but never led again against the nationally-ranked Lancers. A pair of CBU's nine three-pointers helped establish an early seven-point lead that forced Dominican to play from behind a quarter into the game. A Michael Smith layup extended the lead to nine, 22-13, at the eight-minute mark and the Penguins trailed by 10 little than four minutes later. The deficit ballooned to as large as 16 before a Taplin three-pointer cut the margin to 39-26 at halftime.

Dominican cut the lead to four around the 16-minute mark thanks to an 11-point run that saw five different Penguins score. Yet, CBU answered with a Smith jumper and back-to-back threes from Eric Hunt and Smith to push lead back to double digits.The lead grew back to 13 and Penguins trailed by 10 with 40 seconds left. For the second game in a row, Dominican attempted a miraculous comeback in the final minute, only to come up short yet again. Three missed free throws by the Lancers in the final minute allowed Dominican to trim the lead. Taplin nailed his fourth three-pointer of the night with five seconds left to pull Dominican within four. However, Smith made the front end of a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game with four seconds left.

Josh Ramirez added seven points in the loss. Karl Ohrner and Matthew Lipski added six points apiece.

CBU was led by Smith and Gelaun Wheelwrights with 16 points apiece. Taj Spencer added 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Ryan Berg, the reigning PacWest player and freshman of the year, added 13 points.

Dominican will look for one more win before the break to even its record. On Saturday, Dec. 20 the Penguins host Northwest Nazarene (2-9) in non-conference play. Live video and stats will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with the call provided by Dominican students Alex Swan and Michael Temple of radio.dominican.edu. Game time is set for 2 p.m. in the Conlan Center.