SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- Dominican men's basketball was unable to overcome an early deficit against Chaminade University in an 84-54 loss Saturday afternoon at the Conlan Center.

Senior forward Cedric Thomas led the Penguins (6-8, 2-6 PacWest) with 16 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Jordan Williams added a season-high 15 points, while sophomore forward Christian Futch grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Silverswords (11-2, 5-2 PacWest) were fueled by Grant Dressler's 24-point night. Erik Scheive added 21 points and seven rebounds for Chaminade.

The Silverswords pulled away half-way through the first half as Jake Hutchings hit a flurry of 3-pointers to power a 20-4 run. Scheive ended the run with eight consecutive points to give Chaminade a 30-11 lead with eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Penguins answered with a 12-2 run, as Averbuck nailed a 3 in transition, and then forced a turnover on the other end before hitting a second shot behind the arc to close the gap to 32-22 with five minutes left on the clock. The 10-point deficit would be as close as the Penguins would come to catching the Silverswords in the first half. Dressler scored the last five points of the half for Chaminade as it extended the lead to 39-26 at the break. 

The Penguins began the second half as the aggressor as Thomas made his way to the foul line to knock down two, and Williams followed with a layup on the next possession to cut the lead back to single digits. Dominican continued to close as Williams hit a clutch 3-pointer to trim the Chaminade lead to 47-40 with 14 minutes remaining. Despite the rally, Dominican was unable to cool the hot hand of Dressler, as he hit two more from beyond the arc to extend the lead back to 15 at the midway point of the second half. 

The Penguins were unable to find an answer to the run as the Chaminade lead grew to as many as 32 down the stretch.

Dominican will host Biola University in the final game of its homestand at 7:30 p.m. PST. Live video and stats will be available online.