The Dominican University men's basketball team ran out of time in a furious second half comeback that saw the Stars nearly erase a 16-point deficit in a 73-69 loss to the University of La Verne Leopards on Sunday morning at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, California. The Stars outscored the Leopards 25-13 over the final nine minutes before running out of time in the comeback bid.
"I'm encouraged that we put together a full twenty minutes of basketball in second half today," said Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "We definitely showed improvement as a team. Unfortunately, you cannot get down 17 points and expect to win. I am proud of the way we continued to fight until the end."
Jackson Smith knocked down a three, part of his game-high 21 points, with 9:01 to play to spark an 11-1 run that spanned 1:50 of game time to angle the Leopard lead down to six, 61-55 with 7:10 to play. Dominican then kept La Verne in their sights over the final seven minutes of play, cutting the lead down to three, 67-64, on a three by Dennis Handy with forty seconds remaining. Smith later shaved the lead down to two, 71-69, with a corner three with just twelve seconds to play before the Leopards converted on a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.
Handy dropped in a career-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field, including 4-for-6 from three, in 35 minutes of work. The sophomore added five steals and one assist in the all-around effort. Smith added three three's of his own as Dominican shot 10-for-29 as a team from three-point distance. As a team, Dominican shot 17-for-37 from the field in the second half after converting on nine of 30 shots in the first half.
La Verne was paced by Alex Vucinich who scored 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. Jordan Allen added 15 points of his own while Evan Gustafson and Sinai Enoch chipped in 14 and ten respectively to round out four in double-figures scoring for the Leopards. La Verne Shot 26-for-57 from the field in the game, going 6-for-12 from three, and converting on 15 of 18 attempts from the foul line. The Leopards also held a 55-23 advantage on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds that lead to 15 second chance points.
Dominican, now 0-3 on the season, is slated to open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play this week, hosting the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday before traveling to Rockford University for a 4:15 p.m. matchup with the Regents on Saturday.
