SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — It was a tale of two halves as the Dominican University of California men's basketball team began the calendar year with an 86-76 loss to visiting BYU-Hawaii on Tuesday night in the Conlan Center.

Dominican (6-5/2-2 PacWest) shot 53.3 percent (16-of-30) in the first half but struggled in the second half and shot just 38.7 percent (12-of-31). The Penguins went 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from deep in the first half and just 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) in the second half. Meanwhile the Seasiders (7-3/4-1 PacWest) improved as time went on. They were held to 32.3 percent (10-of-31) in the first half but went 15-of-28 in the final 20 minutes and a scorching 6-of-9 from deep.

Dominican looked strong in the first half and led by as many as 12 at one point. Yet, the Seasiders, who coupled with a Concordia loss moved into first place, wouldn't go away. Over the final two and a half minutes of the first half, the Seasiders trimmed the lead down to three, 40-37. That momentum swing carried into the second half as BYU-Hawaii scored the first five points of the half to wrestle away the Penguins' lead. Quentin Mendoza's three-pointer tied the game at 63-63 with under 10 minutes to go but Scott Friel answered with one of his own at the other end and Dominican was forced to play from behind for the final nine minutes. Ryo Tawatari grabbed a rebound and hit a three-pointer to pull the Penguins within four with 2:37 to go but that's as close at they would come down the stretch.

The Penguins distributed the ball well, especially early on. As a team, Dominican dished out 20 assists on 28 field goals. Senior Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten came off the bench for a team-high 18 points, 14 of which came in the first half. He now leads the team with 15.6 points per game. Matt Hayes scored 14 points, Seth Turner scored 11 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and Josh Ramirez added nine points. Tawatari had eight points, dished out a team-high six assists, and had three steals.

Scott Friel was the difference for BYU-Hawaii. His physicality helped him get to the free throw line 14 times. He finished with a game-high 27 points, plus team-highs of eight rebounds and six assists. Justin Yamzon added 19 points and Ian Harward had a dozen points.

Dominican will host Holy Names (3-10/2-3 PacWest) on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The Penguins hold a 10-0 record against Holy Names since 2009 but may face their biggest challenge yet. The Hawks enter with a 3-10/2-3 PacWest record but are coming off a 71-60 home victory over ART U. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by Penguin Radio at radio.dominican.edu.