ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball opened the year with a statement as they topped Sonoma State 84-69 Friday night at The Wolves' Den.

It was the largest margin of victory for the Penguins (1-0) in the series between the two teams in the NCAA Division II era. Jorge Ochoa led four players in double figures with 17 points on 55.6 percent shooting including going 3-for-6 behind the arc. Jaayden Bush ended with a near triple-double for Dominican with nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds in his first game back from injury. The Seawolves (0-1) were led by Jack Schultz's 19 points off the bench.

The Penguins shot 45.1% from the floor and 36.4% from behind the arc while dominating the boards 50-24, including 19 offensive rebounds. SSU was able to find a groove late shooting 50% from the floor in the second half but Dominican had built an insurmountable lead by that point. 

After the Seawolves built a 7-2 lead to start the game, the Penguins began to catch fire as Ochoa knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to take the lead for good. The run continued with a pair of layups before Bush found Nathan Ilunga in transition for a make behind the arc followed by a steal by Jordan Archie that turned into a pair of makes from the charity stripe to push the lead to 17-7 with 14 mintues left in the half. Ochoa knocked down one more 3-pointer to end the 18-0 run as Bush once again made the good pass in transition.

Dominican was shooting over 60% from the field at the under 12 minute media timeout and leading by 12. Dominican continued to push the pace in the first half as Bush found Ilunga under the hoop for a fastbreak layup through contact and Ilunga converted from the charity stripe for the old-fashioned 3-point play to make it 29-13 at the halfway point. Four minutes later, Darius Best closed out a 6-point Penguin run with a layup  to push the lead to 20 as the momentum continued to roll their way. Archie gave Dominican its largest lead of the half as he knocked down another shot from behind the arc to make it 50-24 with 1:22 left in the half and they would hold the 26-point advantage at the break. 

Best scored four points in another 6-0 run early in the second half as Dominican built its largest lead of the night at 66-35 with 12 minutes remaining in the game. It was all downhill from there as the Penguins were able to coast to a 15-point victory .

Dominican will finish off its part of the PacWest/CCAA Challenge tomorrow as it faces San Francisco State in The Wovles' Den.