SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball defeated Hawaii Hilo 80-67 Monday night giving them a huge conference victory. This victory gives them seven conference wins but more importantly the Penguins stay within reach of the last spot in the PacWest tournament with three games left in the regular season.
Senior
Garrett Siebels got the Penguins off to a hot start as he dropped 10 points in the first half with a mix of jumpers and floating lay-ups going 5 for 8 from the field. The Petaluma native would end with 12 points to go along with two steals and one block.
Fellow seniors
Carter Plousha and
Dale Currie helped Siebels with the scoring in the first half going for eight and seven points. Plousha forced the Vulcans to send him to the line with his tough drives into the lane while Currie forced them to guard the deep ball hitting two in the first half.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Penguins were hounding Hilo all night. The defense came up with four steals in the first half with Currie and Siebels swiping two apiece. Dominican would head into halftime holding a four-point lead.
Plousha opened the scoring in the second half for the Penguins. The San Diego native finished with 13 points while grabbing six boards.
Brendon Johnson and
Marcus McCutchen had relatively quiet numbers in the first half, but that changed.
Johnson and McCutchen found themselves at the free throw line a bunch in the second half thanks to a hole in the Vulcans defense allowing them to drive constantly. The duo combined to go 7 for 8 from the charity stripe ending the game with 14 and 11 points.
Currie was the x-factor late in the second half for the Penguins. Whenever the Vulcans would creep close the Sacramento native would answer with big shot after another. He finished with a game-high 23 points on 5 for 8 from deep. Hilo could not stop him from behind the arc as the five long balls was a season high for Currie.
Dominican will travel across the Golden Gate bridge to face off against Academy of Art this Thursday Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
