TURLOCK, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in a 72-61 win Tuesday night over Stanislaus State at Fitzpatrick Arena.

Garrett Siebels was on fire as he was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field to finish with 20 points for the Penguins (2-1). Jaayden Bush added 18 points, five steals and three assists. Will Pallesi was the engine for the Warriors (1-2) all night as he finished the game with 20 points with Tony Singleton heating up in the second half to add 17 points.

Dominican was extremely efficient on the offensive end hitting 52% of its shots from the field while knocking down 54.5% from beyond the arc. The Penguins added 11 steals and dominated inside the paint finishing with a 34-20 advantage over the Warriors.

Siebels and Bush quickly set the tone as Siebels knocked down a pull-up jumper and Bush cut into the pain and connected on a floater for the first points of the game. The Dominican defense helped extend the lead as Jake Blazona stole a ball and threw it ahead to Omari Davis for a breakaway dunk to cap an 8-3 run and give the Penguins the 18-10 lead halfway through the period.

After Siebels extended the lead to 10 with another midrange pull-up, the Warriors were able to battle back and cut its deficit to seven. Jorden Josephs then found a cutting Bush who finished through contact to make it 28-18 on an old-fashioned 3-point play with five minutes left in the half. 


The Warriors finally found some luck as one of their 18 turnovers was quickly lost off a Penguin ankle and out of bounds to give them a second chance and Isaiah Jones cashed in with a triple. Pallesi followed up with a 3-pointer from the left corner to cut the lead to two with 2:24 showing on the clock. Siebels came out of the ensuing timeout and knocked down a three from the left wing to stop the momentum and keep Dominican in front as it entered the half leading 33-30.

Tyler Williams was a man on a mission coming out of the half as he cut to the paint and crashed the glass for six-straight points on easy layups as the Penguins scored eight unanswered to take the 41-30 lead. A Stanislaus State timeout did nothing to slow down the Penguins as three more steals extended the lead to 14 points before Pallesi finally gave the Warriors their first points of the half on a 3-pointer with 16:16 remaining.

The next nine minutes saw Stanislaus State try to make several runs, but every time Dominican had the answer with Siebels and Marcus McCutcheon making deep 3-pointers and Bush cutting to the bucket for an acrobatic layup to keep the Penguins ahead 61-51 heading into the under eight media timeout.

The Warriors looked to finally have some momentum as Singleton knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to seven with 3:29 left on the clock, but it was short-lived. Siebels collected an offensive board and a putback on the next trip down the floor before a long rebound fell into the hands of PJ Volz who threw it ahead to Bush for an easy transition layup to push the lead back to double digits at 70-59 one minute later.

Dominican will return home Saturday to host Cal Poly Humboldt at 3 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.