HONOLULU — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team began its three-game road trip through Hawaii with a 65-48 loss to Hawai'i Pacific on Thursday night at the Blaisdell Center.

The Penguins (8-6/4-3 PacWest) posted their lowest scoring output since Dec. 13, 2011, a 68-43 non-conference loss at Seattle Pacific. Dominican's 34.0 percent (16-of-47) shooting was also the lowest of the sesaon. Most of that was due to an abysmal 22.7 percent (5-of-16) first half that saw the Penguins trailing HPU (10-4/5-2 PacWest) 28-16 at intermission.

Reguar contributors Josh Ramirez and Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten found themselves in early foul troulbe, which affected the Penguins' ability to score in the first half. Ramirez fouled out late in the game. Junior Ryo Tawatari led the offense with 14 points and Matt Hayes came on in the second half and finished with a dozen points and a team-high eight rebounds. Hayes is now three points away from tying and four points from breaking Dominique Taplin's DII program scoring record at 1,086 points.

HPU, which shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56), was led by 13 points apiece by Luke Hager and Jordan Martin.

Dominican will now head to the North Shore of Oahu on Saturday, Jan. 16 for a 7:30 p.m. game at BYU-Hawaii. The Seasiders, who beat the Penguins at home to move into first place, lost on Thursday and slipped to third place. Dominican is currently tied for sixth place with Dixie State