San Diego, Calif. — Dominican men's basketball fell short 80-85 Thursday evening to open a road trip at Point Loma in Golden Gymnasium. 
 
Marcus McCutchen led the Penguins (6-14, 3-9 PacWest) with 21 points and four rebounds. Nathan Ilunga was close behind with 18 points and five rebounds for Dominican, while Garrett Siebels chipped in 18 points and four assists.
 
The Penguins came in ready to fight despite being an underdog and they made things difficult for the Sealions (15-6, 10-3 PacWest). Ilunga opened up scoring for the Penguins with a hook shot and a layup before Dale Currie knocked home a shot from distance to tie the game 7-7. The teams continued to trade points until Point Loma pulled ahead 15-11 with 14:12 to go.
 
Currie clapped right back by sinking a three to bring the score back within one. Siebels added onto it with a make from deep of his own on the next possessions to keep Dominican in the mix before Currie scored two from the charity stripe to give Dominican its first lead at 20-18 with 12 minutes left in the half. 
 
Tyce Paulsen scored back-to-back 3-pointer to lift PLNU back into the lead and it stayed in front for the next ten minutes. Ilunga took charge of the offense from there as Siebels found him inside for a layup before Ilunga stole the ball on the defensive end, grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end and put it back in to tie the score 41-41. Ilunga then put an exclamation mark on his personal 6-0 run with a dunk to give the Penguins the brief lead, but Coby Barnes answered on the other end for the Sealions to tie the score at half, 43-43.
 
The game remained tight in the second half as Marcus Mcutchen powered the offense early finishing through contact to give the Penguins the lead 50-48 on an old-fashioned 3-point play. Dominican added to its lead as Siebels got open for back-to-back makes from behind the arc to make it 64-56 with 11:49 remaining on the clock. 
 
McCutchen scored four quick points to give Dominican its first double-digit lead at 68-58 with 9:48 remaining as the Penguins looked to be in control. PLNU got back on track as Luke Smith made from distance to spark a 17-0 run that flipped the momentum and the lead for good. Dominican made one last push as Currie sank a contested 3-pointer with 14 seconds left to close the gap to two, but the Sealions took care of business from the free-throw line to seal their win.
 
Dominican will continue their travels down south to face Azusa Pacific on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PST at Felix Event Center in Azusa.