Box Score BELMONT, Calif. — It wasn't easy but an 80-70 victory at Notre Dame De Namur gave the Dominican University of California men's basketball team its tenth consecutive victory as they head into the Pacific West Conference Championships.

Myles Carrillo and Dominique Taplin came up huge at the free throw line down the stretch and helped the No. 8 regionally-ranked Penguins secure the victory after a Steven Plantenburg three-pointer sent the game into overtime. Carrillo finished his night 11-of-13 from the free throw line and scored a team-high 24 points while Taplin finished with 23.

Dominican (21-7/15-5 PacWest) started strong from behind the three-point line, making six of its first 10 but the Penguins would cool off, going 4-of-17 the rest of the night. The Penguins led NDNU (7-19/6-14 PacWest) until 1:25 to go in regulation when a pair of Don Washington free throws gave the Argos a 65-64 lead. Four consecutive Carrillo free throws put the Penguins back ahead and things looked bleak for the Argos. Instead, NDNU caught the Penguins off guard. Don Washington grabbed the rebound on a missed free throw by Jonny Bates. A James Northup three-pointer didn't fall but Johnny Hutton grabbed the offensive rebound and found Plantenburg in the left corner for the tie.

It was all Penguins in overtime, however. Dominican outscored the Argos 12-2 in the extra period with seven of those free throws from Carrillo.

Matt Hayes scored 13 points on 5-of-10 (50 percent) shooting while Connor Haysbert added nine points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Penguins limited NDNU to 36.1 percent (22-of-61) from the field and held a slight 39-36 advantage on the boards. Washington led the Argos with 20 points on 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 free throw shooting. He also pulled down 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double.

The victory guarantees Dominican the second seed in the PacWest Championships next week, March 6-8 in San Diego. The top six eligible teams advance to the tournament with the winner receiving the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA West Regional. As the No. 2 seed, Dominican will received a first-round bye and will play at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 7 versus the winner of the No. 3 Dixie State vs. No. 6 Hawai'i Pacific game. For up-to-date information on the PacWest Championships, visit here.