OAKLAND, Calif.—Dominican men's basketball never trailed as they dominated on both ends of the floor to defeat Holy Names University 69-61 Saturday night at Tobin Gymnasium.

Lazar Djurovic led all scorers with a career-high 27 points, shooting 11-of-14 from the field, to go with eight rebounds and two assists. Jaelen Ragsdale also recorded a career-high in points with 22 points, shooting 50% from the field and knocking down 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Ragsdale was also clutch from the foul line where he sank 8-of-9 free throws, while also collecting five rebounds and two assists. The Penguins' (2-10, 2-4 PacWest) defense held the Hawks (4-8, 2-4 PacWest) to just 29% shooting from the field. 

Zamaria Odom paced HNU on the offensive end with 14 points and one rebound. Rob Fuller added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Dominican (2-10, 2-4 PacWest) utilized a high trap defense to begin the game, forcing the Hawks into three consecutive turnovers. The Penguins capitalized to take a 13-0 lead, capped off with a 3-pointer from Averbuck to force Holy Names to burn a timeout just 3:55 into regulation. Returning from the timeout, Averbuck extended the Penguins' lead as he collected his own rebound on a 3-point miss and dished it to Romeo Mays underneath the basket for a powerful dunk to make it 15-0. The Hawks finally ended the run as Justice De Corsi drove the lane for their first points nearly seven minutes into the game.

HNU held Dominican scoreless for the next two minutes as it cut the deficit to seven when Justin Chambers knocked down a shot from well beyond the arc, and Anthony Dennis made it to the foul line to sink 1-of-2 free throws. 

Djurovic and Ragsdale took control of the game for the Penguins as they pushed Dominican to its largest advantage of the night. Djurovic kick started the run with five straight points, and Ragsdale followed suit by scoring the next seven to extend the lead to 13 with 4:16 left in the half. Djurovic kept the momentum rolling with a layup from underneath the basket and Jordan Williams entered the mix with a pull-up jumper to push the lead back to 15 at 31-16 with 3:14 left in the half. 

Dominican took a 13-point lead into the second half and the Hawks were unable to break within 10 for the first 12 minutes. With the Penguins in foul trouble, Chambers knocked down a free throw for HNU to bring the game within single digits at 50-41. The Penguins pushed the lead back to 14 when Averbuck hit a midrange jumper with 3:45 left to play and Djurovic knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:57 remaining to slam the door on the Hawks. 

Dominican will travel to the islands of Hawai'i to face the University of Hawai'i at Hilo Thursday at 7:30 p.m. HST. Live video and stats will be available online.