HONOLULU, Hawaii — A year after Chaminade upset the Dominican University of California men's basketball team in the PacWest Championships, the Penguins saw their season spoiled by the Silver Swords yet again in a 92-87 loss.

The Penguins, who needed to win both of their games entering Thursday to make it back to the PacWest Championships, fell behind early and had to work hard to erase an early 13-point deficit. The Penguins trailed 47-41 at halftime and used a 9-0 run to turn a 55-47 deficit into a 56-55 advantage with 15 minutes to go in regulation. The lead changed a handful of times over the next several minutes until the Silver Swords grabbed the lead for good on back-to-back layups at the 10-minute mark. From there, the margin ballooned to 15. Dominican trailed 10 with two minutes to go and pulled within five with under half a minute on Matt Hayes' three-pointer but could not complete the comeback.

Dominique Taplin led the Penguins with 21 points and nine rebounds, five assists, and a pair of blocks. Mathew Lipski added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten was 3-for-3 from deep and finished with 13 points. Matt Hayes had 12 points and eight rebounds. Karl Ohrner contributed 10 points with seven rebounds.

The Penguins shot slightly better (50 percent, 30-of-60) than Chaminade (48.3 percent, 29-of-60), were 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the arc, and won the rebounding battle 38-31. However, the Silver Swords took advantage at the free throw line where they went 24-of-33 compared to Dominican's 18-of-32. Dominican also committed 18 turnovers which CUH converted into 25 points.

Dominican will finish the season at UH Hilo on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Hilo.