LAIE, Hawaii — The Cannon Center at BYU-Hawaii hasn't been a friendly place for the Dominican University of California men's basketball team over the years, which had lost all four games there entering Saturday's PacWest contest. However, the Penguins escaped the North Shore in nailbiting fashion with a 78-68 victory over the Seasiders to split the season series.

Dominican (9-6/5-3 PacWest) grabbed control early. Josh Ramirez buried a three-pointer and Seth Turner scored seven consecutive points to give Dominican a 10-point lead, 16-6, with 12:45 to go. Ramirez, who led all players at the half with 11 points, punctuated the first half with a slam dunk that put the Penguins up 20, 41-21, headed into the locker room.

BYU-Hawaii (9-5/6-3 PacWest) climbed into the game in the second half and whittled the lead all the way down to four, in large part due to Dominican being whistled for the first six fouls of the second half. The Penguins sent the Seasiders to the free throw line 17 times, 13 in the second half. Things got dicey with under eight minutes to go as the Seasiders trimmed the lead to a single possession, 58-55. Senior guards Matt Hayes and Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten protected the lead with back-to-back baskets that pushed the lead back to seven with five minutes to go. With under two minutes to go, Schwartz-Edmisten came up with a crucial steal and dished to Hayes, who nailed his third three-pointer to make it a nine-point game. Dominican made all of its free throws down the stretch and went a perfect 8-of-8 for the game.

Hayes, who already holds all three of the program's Division II era three-point shooting records, passed Dominique Taplin as Dominican's all-time points leader in the Division II era with 7:29 to go in the first half with his first three-pointer. He finished the night with 15 points and now sits at 1,098 career points. Schwartz-Edmisten scored a team-high 18 points off the bench. Ramirez finished with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Reverend Maduakor added 12 points.

Scott Friel, who powered the Seasiders in the two teams' first meetings, led BYU-Hawaii yet again with 19 points. Cory Lange added 15 points in the loss.

While the win was the first for the Penguins at the Cannon Center it may very well also be the last. The Penguins are not scheduled to return there in 2016-17 and in 2014 the Seasiders announced that they will phase out NCAA athletics. Dominican will look to finish the road trip with another win. The Penguins head to Chaminade on Monday, Jan. 18 for a 7:30 p.m. PacWest contest.