Dominican men's basketball team had their home opener Tuesday night against Stanislaus State in front of a packed house at the Conlan Center. To say Penguin fans were ready for basketball season would be an understatement.

For the second straight game, senior Dale Currie led Dominican in points with 16 on the night with a pair of assists. Fellow senior Marcus McCutchen was right behind Currie with 14 points going a cool 7 for 13 from the field.

This game was back and forth from the first tip and had a total of eight lead changes. The Penguins were able to find pay dirt from inside the paint where they put up 36 of their points in comparison to only 20 for the Warriors.

Going into halftime the Penguins were up by three. When the teams came out for the second half, the energy was intensified. Senior Carter Plousha was a sniper for the Penguins going a perfect 5 for 5 from the field and tallying 11 points.

There was no bigger play in this one late in the game than when McCutchen drove the lane hard and put down an emphatic poster over a Warriors defender as all he could do was cover his head. Easily an early candidate for dunk of the year.

The Warriors would end up taking a five-point lead with under a minute to go, but the Penguins wouldn't quit. After forcing a turnover, and some missed free throws by Stanislaus State, Dominican found themselves only down by two with eight seconds left in the game.

The Penguins had two chances to tie the game with four seconds left but missed both lay-up opportunities. Stanislaus State would go on to narrowly escape with a victory.

Up next for the Penguins is a Friday night game at Cal State East Bay.