HILO, Hawai'i – Dominican men's basketball fell short in their attempt to leave the islands with their second win as University of Hawaii at Hilo pulled away late for the 86-78 victory Monday night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
 
"I thought we competed and played together," associate head coach Matt Okada said. "We dominated on the glass, we assisted on over half of our made field goals and shot good percentages. The bottom line is it's tough to win a game when you turn it over 21 times. We lost by eight points and [UHH] had 26 points off turnovers. You cut those in half and it's a different game."
 
Justin Brown finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Chase Anderson finished with 14 points to lead a total of six Penguins (5-10, 2-7 PacWest) in double figures. Max Kunnert led the Vulcans (10-4, 6-1 PacWest) with 25 points with Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones chipping in 18 points and eight board.
 
Dominican started out hot from beyond the arc as Michael Diaz knocked down his first of the night and Adam Parker added two more to help Dominican out to a 14-8 lead five minutes into the game. Darren Williams answered with a 3-pointer on the other end and a pair of free throws helped UHH close back to within one just moments later.
 
Justin Brown spun past his defender and threw down a two-handed slam to spark another Penguin run and capped it off by finding Anthony Dennis cutting the baseline for a dunk to make it 26-19 with 10 minutes until the break. Jorden Josephs then drained a 3-pointer from the right elbow to give Dominican its highest lead of the half of nine points. 
 
Williams dragged the Vulcans back into the game connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers from the corner to cut the deficit to 33-30 with 4:37 left in the half. UHH eventually grabbed the lead on a Donal McHenry layup and the Vulcans took the 39-37 lead into the locker room.
 
UHH extended its lead to seven out of the break on a Tait-Jones jumper, but Brown kicked a ball out to Blazona on the perimeter for a 3-pointer to spark the Penguin offense. Chase Anderson followed up the first of two 3-pointers in the 13-2 run that pushed them back in front 50-46 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
 
Brown and Dennis both crashed the offensive boards to help the Penguins extend their lead to 61-54 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. UHH limited Dominican to one shot on its ensuing two possessions and James Strong knocked down a shot beyond the arc to cut the gap to two with 8:04 remaining on the clock.
 
Turnovers then began to hurt the Penguins as Darren Williams took the ball away in the backcourt and laid it in to make it a one-points game and Tait-Jones converted a pair from the charity stripe to retake the 64-63 lead as the clock ticked under six minutes. Strong then knocked down a shot from the top of the ark to extend the lead to four before Parker drove the lane for a difficult layup to end the run.
 
After trading buckets for the next few minutes, Kunnert sparked a 7-0 run that pushed the Vulcan lead to double digits with less than a minute to play to seal the game.
 
Dominican will return to action Friday against Holy Names at 7:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.