SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Even with a hot-shooting Dalton Groskreutz, the Dixie State Red Storm could not go to San Rafael and get one back from Dominican to maintain their second place seeding in the PacWest Conference. DSU fell to the run-and-gun Penguins as Dominican led the game from start to finish in a 105-90 victory Thursday night in the Golden State.
In the first half it clearly looked that the Penguins had something to play for, scoring at will from beyond the arc. Dominican hit 7 of 14 from 3-point land and 19 of 32 shots from the floor. With Dixie bigs Jordan Rex and Zach Robbins in early foul trouble, the Red Storm had no one to match up with Dominican center Connor Haysbert, who scored 19 first-half points, with four baskets coming on three-point plays. Groskreutz kept the score respectable with 18 first-half points of his own.
Over the first six minutes, the teams stayed close. A Robbins layup at the 14:06 mark cut the Penguins lead to 9-8. Over the next seven minutes, Dominican outscored DSU 23 to 15, with 21 of those points coming from either 3-pointers or Haysbert’s three-point plays.
With both teams running into foul trouble, several reserve players saw first-half action. But the results were the same, with Penguins point guards driving the lane, drawing defenders and finding open perimeter shooters. Myles Carillo had seven first-half assists and Dominican closed the half on a 20-14 run for the biggest lead going into the break, 52-37.
The Red Storm seemed to pick up their offense beginning the second half as they went aggressively inside. But it seemed for every basket the Red Storm scored, the Penguins would match with a 3-pointer. Dominican outscored Dixie 17-11 over the first five minutes to get its largest lead of the night, 69-48.
Dominican would maintain that lead over the next couple of minutes as Carillo’s three-point play with 13 minutes to play would match DU’s largest lead, up 76-55.
Dixie State never really threatened again, getting to within 13 twice over the next 10 minutes. Dixie did pull to within 12 with just under two minutes to go on two DeQuan Thompson free throws, but at that time DSU coach Jon Judkins threw in the proverbial towel, emptying his bench. Even with almost two minutes to go, Dixie State had expended all of its time outs and Dominican had been hitting free throws.
For the game, Dominican shot 57 percent from the floor, including 52 percent from 3-point land. The Penguins out-rebounded the bigger Dixie squad 41-31. They outscored the Red Storm in the paint 48-34. They also held the advantage on second-chance points 18-9.
The Penguins were led by center Haysbert, who had a double-double with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Dominique Taplin had 14 points. Carillo had a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists. Matt Hayes also scored 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. Josh Armstrong rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points.
The Red Storm shot 48 percent from the floor, but hit only 4 for 17 from 3-point land. Dixie State was led by Groskreutz, with 25 points. Thompson, Louis Garrett and Kimball Payne contributed 14, 13 and 12 points, respectively. With the win, Dominican moves past Dixie State into second place with an overall record of 19-7, 13-5 in the PacWest.
Dixie State falls to 19-5 overall, 13-5 in the PacWest. The Storm will face Academy of Art Saturday at the SF State Main Gym in San Francisco at 4 p.m. before facing Cal Baptist in the season finale next week.
Stats: DU 105, DSU 90
Women’s Game: Lady Storm 86, Lady Penguins 65
The Lady Storm avenged their last loss and extended their winning streak to five games. The Storm’s last loss came against Dominican Feb. 1. Dixie nearly doubled their point output from that contest with 44 percent shooting from the floor, including 54 percent from the arc. They held the Lady Penguins to 34 percent shooting. Dixie was able to outscore Dominican in the paint 44-32.
With the loss Dominican, falls to 8-16, 8-10 in the PacWest. Dominican was led by Salonika Quewon-Owens with 17 points. She was joined in double-figures by Jasmine Cox with 11.
Dixie improves to 13-11, 11-7 in the PacWest. Kaylah Miller led all scorers with 22 points. Briana White and Haley Holmstead scored 20 and 18 points, respectively. They were joined in double-figure scoring by Haileigh Emerine, who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Red Storm finish the season against the top two teams in the PacWest. They will face conference leader Academy of Art this Saturday at 2 p.m. before facing off against Cal Baptist next week.
Stats: DSUW 86, DUW 65
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