SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Seniors Dominique Taplin and Mathew Lipski were honored in a pregame ceremony in their final home game on Saturday versus Academy of Art. The two seniors made it a night to remember in a 59-52 victory, keeping the Penguins' hopes of securing a berth to the PacWest Championships in March alive.

Dominican trailed the first 10 minutes of play but used a 12-0 run to turn the tables. Dominican took its first lead of the night on a Lipski jumper that made it 17-16 with 4:04 to go in the first half. Herman Pratt later beat the buzzer for the Urban Knights but the Penguins still led, 25-18, at the half. Lipski opened the second half with a three-point play to push the lead to double digits and Dominican led by 12 with 14:15 to go on a Taplin three-pointer. However, ART U answered with a 12-2 run that cut the lead to 37-35 with 11:17 to go. A pair of Pratt free throws cut the lead all the way to one, 40-39, but the Penguins continued to get to the rim with layups from Lipski and Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten to protect the lead. Dominican's lead was still just two with 2:35 to go but the Penguins staved off the Urban Knights attack. Matt Hayes found a wide-open Jonny Bates under the hoop for the easy layup to push the lead back to eight with 31 seconds to go to complete the season sweep of the Urban Knights.

Taplin, who reached 1,000 career points in Saturday's victory over Holy Names, led all players with 16 points to bring his career total to 1,028. He had seven rebounds, bringing him to 429 career rebounds, just eight behind DII career leader Connor Haysbert's 437. Lipski added 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds as Dominican outrebounded the Urban Knights 44-30. Josh Armstrong added 10 points and six rebounds.

Sergio Valdeolmillos led the Urban Knights with 11 points off the bench.

A Hawai'i Pacific loss to Dixie State on Monday pulled the Penguins a half game in front of the Sharks. Dominican has three games left, all in Hawaii, while the Sharks have two home games left. The two teams will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 24 in what will likely decide the sixth and final seed in the PacWest Championships.