HONOLULU – Dominican men's basketball held off a late push by Hawaii Pacific for the 72-67 victory Thursday night for its first-ever victory over the Sharks on the islands.
 
Adam Parker led all players with 20 points for the Penguins (5-9, 2-5 PacWest) while Chase Anderson added 14 points and two steals. Jake Blazona did a good job of directing the offense, tying a career high with seven assists to go with nine points. Rodney Hounshell led the HPU (3-10, 0-6 PacWest) with 16 points while Colton Martin chipped in 14 points.
 
"I'm really proud with how we competed and closed out that game after a long trip yesterday," head coach Justin Argenal said. "Hawaii Pacific is a tough, physical team but I feel we matched their physicality and took it to another level. The game seemed to go back and forth but we worked hard on the boards and dove for loose balls, simple plays but winning plays to make the difference in the end."
 
Parker and Blazona put the Dominican ahead 6-2 as they knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key to capitalize on some lockdown defensive play in the opening four minutes of play. Anderson then heated up for the Penguins cutting to the basket for a pair of layups to cap a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 12-5 with 12:21 left on the clock. 
 
The Sharks began to cut into the lead as they worked the ball inside to power a 6-point run of their own as Martin made a hookshot with 8:46 left in the half cut the Dominican lead to one. Moments later, Jakob Kimura finished through contact to give HPU its first lead since the opening minutes of the game with the 3-point play. The teams began to trade buckets for the next two minutes with multiple lead changes.
 
Connor McClean and Terique Brown each knocked down shots from behind the arc to put the Penguins back in front but Hounshell answered with a 3-pointer and a pull up jumper in the key to give the Sharks the 27-25 lead heading to the final three minutes of the half. Adam Parker knocked down a corner three for the tie and neither team scored in the final minute of the half with the score knotted 30-30.
 
Blazona drove the lane and passed a ball behind a help defender's back to Justin Brown for a two-handed slam to spark a Penguin run early in the second half with Michael Diaz driving the lane for two and then adding a 3-pointer to cap the 9-0 run. Parker then knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game moments later to give Dominican its first double-digit lead at 46-36 with 14 minutes left in the game.
 
Dominican was unable to keep the Sharks contained forever as Colton Martin knocked down a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to close the gap to one with three minutes remaining after a series of small runs. Parker though shifted the momentum back to Dominican as he finished through contact for a 3-point play and Anderson knocked down a 3-pointer from the elbow to push the lead to 70-61 heading to the final minute of play. Hounshell answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from the corner to make it a one possession game. After Justin Brown made the short jumper to extend the lead to five, the Penguins got the defensive stop they needed with Anderson securing the rebound with 4.7 seconds remaining to seal the game.
 
Dominican will return to the court Saturday to take on Chaminade at 3 p.m. HST at McCabe Gym.