SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball kept the game close but were unable to overcome PacWest frontrunner Azusa Pacific in an 83-68 loss Saturday night at the Conlan Center.

Lazar Djurovic led the Penguins (6-20, 6-14 PacWest) with 21 points and six rebounds, including a 3-for-3 night from behind the arc. Jordan Williams caught fire in the second half as he kept Dominican close as he finished with 17 points and six assists. 

Selom Mawugbe finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks to lead the Cougars (23-3, 18-2 PacWest), while Jake Spurgeon added 20 points and nine rebounds. APU held a 41-30 advantage on the glass resulting in 25 second-chance points which proved to be the difference in the game.

The game was close for the first several minutes as Djurovic knocked down two 3-pointers in the opening minutes, his second cutting the Penguins deficit to 11-10 lead with 16:18 left in the half. Mawugbe then created separation for the Cougars as he pounded the paint for five point in an 11-0 run as they opened up a double-digit lead at 22-10. 

The teams continued to trade points for the next several minutes but Ben Avera hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give APU its largest lead of the half of 18 with 4:11 remaining. The Dominican frontcourt of Djurovic and Romeo Mays hit back-to-back shots behind the arc in the final minute of the half to cut the deficit to 41-29.

The Cougars were able to extend their lead back to 17 in the early minutes of the second half as Ben Taufahema knocked down a 3-pointer with 16:54 remaining and forcing a Dominican timeout. The Penguins responded as Sam Averbuck found a cutting Thomas Faustka for a layup and then Faustka added an acrobatic reverse layup with contact to finish a 3-point play and cut the deficit to 51-41 with 14:30 remaining in the game.

APU remained hot from beyond the arc as Spurgeon capped an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 18 one minute later. Williams then found his stroke for Dominican cutting to the rim for back-to-back layups through contact to bring the Penguins back within 11 heading to the final 10 minutes of the game.

Williams found Averbuck on a fastbreak for a layup with contact to cap the 14-2 run and bring Dominican back within single-digits at 62-55 with 8:14 remaining. Mawugbe and Spurgeon halted the Penguins momentum as they combined for a 6-0 run to push the lead back to 13 heading into the final six minutes. The teams traded buckets the rest of the way as Dominican was unable to get the stops it needed to comeback.

The Penguins will be celebrating Senior Night as they conclude their home season Thursday against NDNU at 7:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center. Live video and stats will be available online.