San Rafael, Calif. – The Dominican University of California men's basketball team fell 66-60 to Fresno Pacific University on Saturday despite a late surge by the Penguin offense and a career high 19 points by redshirt junior Chase Anderson. 

"It's a mentality thing to be honest," head coach Justin Argenalt said. "We're close to breaking through, we just have to make the decision to do so. It's going to be a collective group effort. Everyone on any night has to step up, and tonight we had a few people do that and play well, but it needs to be a collective effort."

Dominican succumbed to early pressure brought on by the Sunbirds, going down 20-7 in the opening 10 minutes of the game, a deficit they'd spend the entirety of the matchup trying to overcome.

Anderson was sent to the line after converting on a jumper with 7:05 remaining in the opening half, soon completing the and-1 to bring Dominican back within 10.  Spencer Heimerdinger answered the basket for the Sunbirds to bring the score to 27-15, preceding another Sunbird bucket before Anderson responded with a lay-in for Dominican.

Anderson drained a pair of foul shots coming out of the break, the beginning of what would be a heavy workload taken on by the junior as he tallied a jumper, more free throws and a 3-pointer, all adding to the 12 consecutive points he tallied for the Penguins while Fresno Pacific continued its attack. When the dust had settled from the Anderson show, Fresno Pacific saw itself with a 36-24 advantage heading into the half.

"Once I get going, I feel like I can be hard to stop," Anderson said. "We were getting stops near the end of the second half, and when we have a point guard like Jake (Blazona), all I have to do is run and get up the floor, I know he's going to find me."

Graduate student Zamaria Odom connected on a 3-pointer on the first trip down the Dominican floor in the second half, bringing the Fresno Pacific advantage back to single digits. A 1-for-2 trip to the line for Darrin Person helped the Sunbirds regain its 10-point lead with a massive block by the strong hand of Dominican freshman Jorden Josephs helping keep the deficit at 10.

Josephs earned a pair of points with a soft lay-in off the glass on the Penguins' ensuing trip down the floor, but Fresno Pacific had a quick answer with a 3-ball that brought the score to 40-29. Odom provided much needed Dominican defense when he solely stopped Fresno Pacific on a fast break with just under 15 minutes remaining, but the Sunbirds would go on to score on their next trip down the floor to increase their lead to 13.

Odom displayed his two-way play on Dominican's ensuing trip down the floor when he drew a hard foul before connecting on both of his charity shots, but the Sunbirds' offense proved to be relentless in matching every Dominican bucket.

"I just, sometimes, need to give our guys the energy to come back and close the gap," Odom said. "Whether it's on the court or off the court, we need to make sure our guys are playing the full 40 minutes. We were down, but we closed the gap and came back. We need to keep finding ourselves and make sure we are bringing our full effort all the time."

Anderson scored his first points of the second half with 11:50 remaining after he gathered a loose rebound before the media timeout to keep Dominican within 10. Garrett Cook then notched a 3-pointer for Fresno Pacific when the teams retook the floor, preceding a driving layup by Dominican graduate student Anthony Dennis. Heimerdinger notched a short-range jumper for the Sunbirds before freshman Jake Blazona converted from deep for Dominican, bringing the score to 52-40. Dennis gathered a rebound following the next media timeout, then laying the ball in to bring Dominican, once again, back within 10, but, also once again, the basket was soon answered by the Sunbirds.

Odom earned a short-jumper following a Dominican timeout as he evaded his defender before pulling the trigger on a shot from inside the paint. Blazona drained a tear drop from in-close on Dominican's next possession after a Sunbirds bucket, with Dennis following-suit to set the score at 61-48 at the final media timeout.

Odom nailed another tough shot out of the timeout as he sent his defender to the floor after he made contact at the hip, then completing the three-point play from the foul line. Graduate student Justin Brown converted from in-close for Dominican after a long-ball from Fresno Pacific, preceding a strong Anderson layup that ended with a bonus point from the foul line. Brown then tipped the ball in on a put-back after a missed Blazona shot, giving Dominican life as it trailed by just six before forcing both a turnover and a Fresno Pacific timeout.

Dominican was unable to complete the late comeback after turning the ball back over to Fresno Pacific before being forced to foul. A.J Kirby connected on both foul shots to put his team up eight before Anderson quickly laid the ball in before Dominican was again forced to foul, but time was of the essence as the clock expired on Dominican while Fresno Pacific enjoyed its narrow 66-60 victory.

Anderson set a career-high with 19 points in just 20 minutes of action, while Odom finished with 14 points, four rebounds and an assist in 33 minutes of action. Justin Brown led all players with 10 rebounds.

Dominican now looks ahead to Wednesday evening when it plays host to the visiting Chaminade University of Hawaii at 4 p.m.

To listen to the live call of tonight's action from Penguin Radio, click here.