SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California men's basketball team found its groove too late in an 81-77 loss to Point Loma on Thursday night.

Jeremiah Gray scored a game-high 28 points but it wasn't enough to overcome a 15-point deficit with seven-minutes to go. The Penguins (4-9/3-4 PacWest), who went just 1-of-6 from deep in the first half, came on late in the second half thanks to five threes — three from Gray and a pair from Josh Ramirez. Over the course of a minute and a half, Gray nailed back-to-back threes and got to the rim for a layup. The 8-0 run cut the Sea Lions (8-6/4-3 PacWest) lead to 63-60 with 4:02 to play. The deficit grew back to nine before another Gray three-pointer got the Penguins got back within three, 80-77. Trevor Peterson made one of two free throws with 15 seconds left to make it a four-point ballgame and the Penguins' final three-point attempt didn't fall.

Dominican led early after back-to-back layups by Ramirez but allowed too many extra opportunities throughout the night. The Sea Lions capitalized, scoring 20 points off of second chances and another 14 off of turnovers. Josh Rodriguez led the Sea Lions with 25 points. Sterling Somers added 11 points and Vince Boumann came off the bench for 10 points.

Gray went 10-for-14 on the night as the Penguins outshot the Sea Lions 50.9 percent compared to 41.3 percent. The Sea Lions made five more threes though, and got to the free throw line half a dozen more times, where they made five more than the Penguins. Ramirez added 17 points for the Penguins and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Ryo Tawatari added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and matched a season-high six assists. Quentin Mendoza scored nine of Dominican's 13 bench points. Henry Uwadiae matched a season-high six blocks in the loss

Dominican hosts Academy of Art (3-7/2-2 PacWest) on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 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.