RIVERSIDE, Calif. — For the second year in a row, the Dominican University of California men's basketball team built a significant lead in Van Dyne Gym only to see it wiped away by host California Baptist. This year, the Penguins saw a 16-point lead disappear into a 76-69 loss to the No. 11 nationally-ranked Lancers.

Matt Hayes, last week's PacWest Co-Player of the Week, powered the Penguins with 22 points on a perfect 6-of-6 three-point shooting. 16 of those came in the first half as the Penguins built as large as a 16-point lead at the 6:40 mark. Tied 11-11, the Penguins used a 17-1 run to take a 28-12 lead. The Lancers made it clear that no lead would be safe by slicing the lead to six. A Josh Armstrong layup and a pair of free throws from Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten helped build the lead back to 10, 37-27, entering halftime.

Two seconds into the second half, an Armstrong turnover led to a fast break layup for Chris Brown. Still, Dominican bounced back and five consecutive points from Schwartz-Edmisten gave Dominican another 16-point lead with 13:32 to go. Things fell apart for the Penguins after that. Dominican missed seven consecutive shots and committed five turnovers and the Lancers capitalized by going on a 25-2 run to take a 59-52 lead. The Penguins pulled within two with 1:09 to go on Hayes' sixth three-pointer of the night. The Lancers got two close-range buckets, plus a pair of free throws to fend off the comeback attempt.

Schwartz-Edmisten added 14 points and Dominique Taplin scored 13 points. Hayes and Armstrong both pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

The Lancers, who were limited to 32.8 percent (10-of-31) shooting in the first half, turned things around in the second half with 55.6 percent (15-of-27) shooting to finish the game at 43.1 percent. Taj Spencer had 22 points and Gelaun Wheelright added 21 points.

The Penguins' three-game road trip through Southern California won't get any easier on Saturday, Jan. 10 when the Penguins take on No. 14 Azusa Pacific. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. Live coverage will be provided by the Cougars and will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live.