The Dominican University men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 season on Wednesday night, topping the North Park University Vikings, 64-61, on the road.  Freshman Dylan Anderson scored a team-high 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds while KJ Redfield added 13 points in the winning effort.
 
"It was a really good team win tonight," said Mark White, the Stars' head coach. "We got good play off our bench and really hung tough when we hit some adversity. We definitely have a lot of areas to clean up, but it was a nice way to start the season."
 
After a back and forth first half that saw the teams trade leads, the Vikings closed the opening period on an 8-2 run to take a 32-26 lead at the break.
 
Out of the half, the Stars used a 10-3 run, capped by a Tyler Guest bucket, to pull in front, 36-35.  After a quick 9-4 run for the Vikings, the Stars settled down and scored six straight, reclaiming the lead, 46-44, when Redfield converted a layup after a nice pass from Nick Lavere.
 
The Stars never trailed the rest of the night, weathering a late 6-2 run by the Vikings that evened the score, 59-59, with 56 seconds to play.  An and-one for Redfield on the next Dominican possession put the Stars back on top and Dennis Handy helped the Stars put the game on ice with a pair of free throws in the final five seconds.
 
Dominican's 15-for-31 shooting from the field in the second half helped the Stars to a 40.3 shooting percentage on the night.
 
Tyler Guest pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds and added eight points, all in the second half, for the Stars.
 
The Vikings were paced by Jacquan Binion's game-high 18 points, leading three in double figures.
 
The Stars will return to action on Tuesday, November 19, hosting the Maranatha Baptist University Crusaders for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at the Igini Sports Forum.  Dominican will look to start the season 2-0 for the first time since the 2010-2011 season.