COSTA MESA, Calif.- Dominican men's basketball traveled down south for a Thursday night PacWest showdown with the Lions of Vanguard University. Junior Darius Best led the way for the Penguins in this one dropping 19 points with six boards, but it was the Lions who came out victorious 73-56.

The Pengs would hang tough in the first half with fellow junior Jorge Ochoa getting the first points for Dominican on a sweet looking lay-up. A couple minutes later, the Los Angeles native would step into a three-pointer for a quick five points.

Redshirt junior DM Sanders who has been a reliable scorer for the Pengs all season called his own number from deep and hit nothing but net to give Dominican their first lead of the game midway through the first. Best, who gave the Lions fits all night, would end the half with a couple of smooth looking jump shots mixed with a couple of buckets from the charity stripe.

Vanguard would come out for the second half with their offense clicking thanks to Leonard Turner and Anthony Tello.

Sanders finished the night second on the team in scoring posting nine points while coming down with seven rebounds. Ochoa would round out the scoring for the Pengs.

Dominican will conclude their season Saturday, March 1^st at 3:30 pm when they travel to CUI.