SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball could not hold off Azusa Pacific in the second half falling 78-65 Monday afternoon at the Conlan Center.

Marcus McCutchen led the Penguins (7-5, 4-2 PacWest) with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Jaayden Bush finished with 19 points. Ken West scored 23 points led the Cougars (10-3, 5-1 PacWest) with 23 points going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. 

The Cougars got off to a quick start scoring the first six points of the game, but Dominican pounded the paint with McCutchen fighting through contact for a layup to tie the game 6-6 with 15:33 left in the half. APU held a small lead for the 12 minutes, until Garrett Siebels knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing and PJ Volz followed up with a make of his own behind the arc to give the Penguins their first lead at 26-24 with 3:25 left in the half.

Volz knocked down another 3-pointer before McCutchen grabbed an offensive board and scored on the putback to cap the 11-2 run and extend the Penguin run to five with 1:36 to go until halftime. The teams traded baskets down the stretch with Nate Kleppe's layup cutting the Cougars' deficit to 33-30 at the break.

Dominican started the second half strong as Bush grabbed an offensive board and converted on the putback before Volz pulled up for a short jumper in the paint to extend the lead to 37-30 two minutes into the half. George Reidy sparked APU from there as he knocked down a shot beyond the arc before Kleppe found him behind the defense for a fastbreak layup as a 14-1 run gave the Cougars the 44-38 advantage with 15:04 remaining. 

Allan McBride converted an old fashioned 3-point play to push the APU lead into double digits at the halfway mark, but Tyler Williams slashed into the lane for a layup before McCutchen made a short jumper to get back within two possessions. The teams continued to trade points until a layup by McCutchen and four straight points from Bush cut the deficit to 64-60 with 3:18 remaining. With the Penguins trailing by four, Bush was assessed a technical B foul and a Dominican assistant was given a technical A resulting in three made free throws by West before Hayden Gray converted a pair of his own from the charity stripe to extend the lead to nine with 1:19 remaining and end the Penguins comeback hopes. 

Dominican will return from the winter break and travel to take on Fresno Pacific on Friday, December 30 at 4:30 p.m. PST.