SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- Dominican men's basketball wrapped up their final home game of 2024 with a PacWest clash against the Silverswords of Chaminade University Thursday night. The Penguins fought hard surging late in the second half, but the Silverswords were victorious in the end winning 76-70.

Darius Best had the first points for the Pengs when he took the ball and smoothly pulled-up for the jumper over the outstretched arms of the defender. After that it was the Silverswords going on a little run led by Roland Banks who scored on back-to-back possessions. Chaminade would build an early seven-point lead until senior Nathan Ilunga put an end to the Silverswords run with his famous jump hook shot. Jaayden Bush followed Ilunga's basket with a jumper of his own and the Penguins started to find they could find success inside against the Chaminade defense.

Redshirt junior DM Sanders who has been a spark off the bench throughout this season checked into the game midway through the first and provided Dominican with timely buckets. It was then teammate Jorge Ochoa who started heating up late in the first half scoring a combination of hard lay-ups along with sweet jumpers which included a three-pointer. Ochoa led the Pengs with nine points at half.

Sargent Jeffery had the first points for Dominican in the second half when he forced the Silverswords to foul him on a hard drive to the basket. Chaminade hit a couple of early buckets to start the half which pushed their lead to 43 to 30. The Penguins didn't lose their fight as hustle plays such as second chance points and going after loose balls kept them within striking distance.

Midway through the second the Penguins turned to Best who had a quiet first half but flipped the switch after halftime. The North Carolina showed his offensive arsenal when he hit a jumper in the paint then followed it up with a sweet looking lay-up past the Chaminade defense. The Silverswords had no answer for Best as he brought his team back, with 10 minutes left the Pengs were down five.

The trio of Best, Bush, and Ochoa led the offensive push for Dominican down the stretch. Best added a couple of long-range threes while Bush and Ochoa kept pushing it into the paint forcing the defenders to send them to the line. Best finished with a team high 17 points while Ochoa dropped 15 and Bush was right behind him with 14.

With 30 seconds left in the game the Pengs found themselves trailing by two. That's when Bush read the eyes of the Silverswords offense and jumped a pass collecting a huge steal. Dominican turned to their guy Best who had been hot all second half with twenty seconds left. Best lost his defender and came up just short on his jumper which would've tied the game.

Dominican will be back in action Dec. 21^st when they travel to Menlo at 3 p.m. Click HERE for MBB Penguin radio podcast