AZUSA, Calif. — A second-half drought cost the Dominican University of California men's basketball team's upset bid at No. 14 Azusa Pacific on Saturday afternoon and for the second time this season lost to the Cougars 74-71.

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm in the first half and the Penguins, who were without senior Mathew Lipski, hung tight, trailing 30-28 at halftime.

After another slow start in the second half by both teams, Dominican tied the game at 30-30 with 17:41 to go. Azusa Pacific would use a 20-0 run to blow the game open and the Penguins found themselves trailing by 23 points with 6:52 to go. Still, the Penguins fought back. Jonny Bates' fast break layup punctuated a 25-6 Dominican run that saw the Penguins cut the deficit to 64-61 with 1:26 to go. Dominican fouled and was able to whittle the lead to two with a minute to go on Matt Hayes' fourth three-pointer of the night. That was as far as Dominican would get though, as Azusa Pacific would sink four free throws down the line to stave off the comeback attempt.

The Penguins outrebounded the Cougars 49-34 but allowed a slightly higher field goal percentage (43.4 percent to 39.4 percent).

Hayes finished with career-highs of 28 points and 12 rebounds. Dominique Taplin added 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Bates, Karl Ohrner, and Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten chipped in eight points apiece.

Troy Leaf finished with a team-high 22 points for the Cougars. Robert Sandoval added 15 points in the victory.

Dominican will look to salvage a game from its three-game excursion to Southern California on Monday, Jan. 12 at Point Loma. Gametime is slated for 7:30 p.m. Live coverage will be provided by the Sea Lions and will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live.