FRESNO, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball fell 80-63 to Fresno Pacific Friday afternoon after an unusually long dry spell in the middle of the game at the Special Event Center.

Marcus McCutchen led the Penguins (7-6, 4-3 PacWest) with 22 points, while Garrett Siebels added 10 points and five rebounds. Mike Mensah was unconscious from beyond the arc for the Sunbirds (4-8, 2-4 PacWest) scoring 21 points on 70% shooting from distance. The biggest difference in the game was the outside shooting where FPU scored 42 of its points on 56% shooting for the game.

Marten Maide was the aggressor early for the Sunbirds as he made his way inside for a pair of short shots to take the early lead, but Dominican began attacking the paint as McCutchen made an acrobatic layup to spark an 11-0 Penguin run. Tyler Williams ended the run scoring five consecutive points including finishing through contact to complete a 3-point play for the 18-10 lead with 12:57 left in the half. After trading points for several minutes, Jaayden Bush slashed into the lane for a pair of layups to extend the Dominican lead to double-digits at 37-27 with 3:32 showing on the clock.

It was then that the Penguins went cold as Mensah knocked down a corner 3-pointer to spark what would be 33-0 run, ended when Mensah knocked down another 3-pointer to take the 60-37 lead with 13:17 left in the second half. That was all the room they would need as Dominican was only able to get as close as 15 the rest of the way after back-to-back makes behind the arc from McCutchen.

Dominican will return home to face rival Holy Names on Monday at 7:30 p.m. PST at the Conlan Center.