BILLINGS, Mont. — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team won its third consecutive game on Saturday with a 74-69 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in the second day of the MSUB Thanksgiving Tournament.

Dominican (4-2) wasted no time establishing it's three-point shooting game. Junior guard Ryo Tawatari netted a long ball on Dominican's opening possession and Josh Ramirez followed with a layup on the next trip to give Dominican an early 5-0 lead. The Penguins grabbed as large as an 11-point lead in the first half and led 37-30 at intermission. Dominican built its second-half lead to 13 but Alaska (4-2) made the game interesting in the second half. Brandon Davis' three-pointer with 10 minutes to go cut the lead all the way to three and the Penguins stayed ahead just enough the rest of the way.

Almir Hadzisehovic cut the lead to two with 6:38 to go but Matt Hayes hit one of his four three-pointers to push the margin back to five. Another Davis bucket with under four minutes to go trimmed the lead to two yet again but Tawatari nailed a pair of free throws to fend the Nanooks off. Joe Slocum hit a three-pointer that cut the lead to one, 70-69, with 22 seconds to go. With the shot clock off, the Nanooks were forced to foul and Hayes and Tawatari each made a pair of free throws to seal the win.

Hayes followed his career night with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds. Junior Josh Ramirez added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Tawatari had 13 points, four rebounds, a pair of assists, and a steal. Senior Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten added nine points. Junior Josh Armstrong and senior Karl Ohrner each added a season-high six points.

Travante Williams led the Nanooks with 18 points. Davis had 16 off the bench, Hadzisehovic added 11, and Slocum had 10. Bangaly Kaba led all players with nine rebounds.

Dominican returns home for its last home game of the calendar year on Saturday, Dec. 5. The Penguins open up PacWest play versus Fresno Pacific at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the women's game at 5:30 p.m. That is "White Ice Night," where fans are encouraged to wear white to the game. Additionally, the first 100 fans will receive a free PacWest t-shirt featuring the updated conference logo. Live stats and video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by radio.dominican.edu.