Box Score AZUSA, Calif. -- Dominican men's basketball start off their SoCal road trip with a loss to Azusa Pacific 87-57 at the Felix Events Center.
 
Senior Jeremiah Gray led the Penguins (5-17, 4-11 PacWest) with 16 points, while freshman Christian Futch led with nine rebounds and three assists in the game. Junior Cedric Thomas and senior Reverend Maduakor contributed 11 points apiece. Petar Kutlesic led the Cougars (16-8, 12-4 PacWest) with 23 points.
 
Dominican took advantage of its offensive rebounds outscoring Azusa Pacific 16-10 in second chance points, but the Cougars shot 46.5 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from the arc.
 
Corey Langerveld helped the Cougars draw first blood with his 3-pointer, and senior Jeremiah Gray responded with a layup to start the game 3-2. A jumper made by freshman Christian Futch gave Dominican their first lead 11-10 with 12:55 left. It was part of a 9-2 Penguins run including Jeremiah with five points to provide Dominican with the 13-10 lead.
 
An 11-0 Azusa run followed after as Darien McClain started and ended the run with 3-pointer and a 3-point play, respectively, giving the Cougars first double-digit lead of the game at 27-17. The teams traded baskets for the next five minutes, and Azusa took a 43-34 lead at the break
 
The Cougars opened the second half with the 13-0 run during first three minutes and took a 22-point lead. After the series was broken up by a tip-in from Cedric Thomas, the next surge would come with 9:07 left in the game.
 
The Cougars scored nine unanswered points to extend the lead to 78-51 fueled by three Penguin turnovers. Dominican would not recover as the Cougars cruised to an 87-57 victory.
 
Dominican takes the court in La Mirada, California, Monday as they face Biola at the Chase Gymnasium. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. PST, live stats and video will be available online.