BELMONT, Calif. — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team used a methodic first half and established an early lead en route to a 64-58 victory at Notre Dame de Namur on Tuesday.

After finishing 2016 on a three-game losing streak, the Penguins (4-8/3-3 PacWest) opened up the calendar year on a much more positive note.

NDNU (3-8/1-4 PacWest) opened the game with two buckets and the game remained tight until the 14-minute mark. After Ty Peacock's tipin gave NDNU a 9-8 lead, Jeremiah Gray laid it in to give the Penguins the lead for the final 33 minutes. The Argonauts turned the ball over on their next three possessions and three-pointers from Gray and Reverend Maduakor widened the gap. Josh Ramirez's layup in the final minute of the half sent the Penguins into the break with a 36-26 lead.

Josh Armtrong's layup three minutes into the second half gave the Penguins their largest lead of the night at 13. The lead was cut to four thanks to six consecutive points from Tre'Shawn King-Dunbar but Quentin Mendoza's three-pointer pushed the lead back to seven with ten minutes to play. A couple of Dominican turnovers and two missed shots allowed NDNU to whittle the lead down once more. Michael Karimu's putback pulled NDNU within three, 56-53, with three minutes to go. Ryo Tawatari hit a long two with just over a minute to go and Cedric Thomas and Josh Armstrong iced it at the free throw line.

Dominican shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) for the game, including 51.5 percent in the first half, and dished out 20 assists on their 27 field goals. The Penguins also shot the ball well from deep, where they made nearly half of their attempts (6-of-13). The Penguins only reached the free throw line seven times, five of which came in the final minute. Dominican sent the Argos to the line 20 times but NDNU only made 13, missing more than the difference in the final result. The Argos were limited to 39.2 percent (20-of-51) shooting from the field and just 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from deep.

Armstrong had a season-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, matched a career-high eight rebounds, and had a season-high four assists. Gray also had 12 points and Mendoza added 11 points on three three-pointers. Henry Uwadiae was perfect in the first half, where he scored all ten of his points. Josh Ramirez dished out a game-high six assists, which also matched a career high, to go along with seven rebounds and a season-high three blocks.

King-Dunbar led the Argos with a game-high 22 points. Peacock added 11 points off the bench.

Dominican returns home to the Conlan Center on Thursday, Dec. 5 when the Penguins host Point Loma (7-6/3-3 PacWest). That is Youth Night and tipoff has been bumped up by an hour to 6:30 p.m. Live stats and pay-per-view video will be available at dominicanathletics.com/live with live audio provided by the student broadcasters of Penguin Radio. Live updates will also be available on the @dominican_mbb Twitter account.