GCU Falls to Dominican

Thursday, January 14

San Rafael, CA

Grand Canyon

Dominican

1/14/2010 11:04:57 AM | Men's Basketball

Dominican University of California was looking for its first-ever NCAA Division II conference win tonight against Grand Canyon University. It transitioned out of the NAIA D-II California Pacific Conference and moved up to the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference this season. The Penguins got their historic victory, beating the Antelopes, 68-59, at the Conlan Center in San Rafael, Calif.

Senior guard T.J. Benson (Tempe, AZ/Corona del Sol) led GCU in scoring with 16 points. Freshman guard Steven Morin (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro) had 12, and junior forward Gaby Ngoundjo (pictured, Little Rock, AR/Christian) and senior forward Marco Ramos (Salinas, CA/North) had 10 each. Ngoundjo and sophomore forward Justin Wesolowski (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) had seven rebounds apiece.

The team played without freshman guard Brad Carroll (Chandler, AZ/Corona del Sol), who was suspended for one game for a violation of team rules.

The 'Lopes (6-13 overall, 0-3 PacWest) led by five, 43-38, with 12:19 left in the game. It was 46-40, GCU, with 10:38 to go, but Dominican went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to take a two-point lead.

Junior forward Rony Tchatchoua (Little Rock, AR/Christian) made a steal and took it the length of the court for a slam dunk, and, after a basket by the Penguins, Ramos scored to tie the game at 50. He subsequently hit a free throw to make it 51-50, but Dominican countered with a three-pointer to retake the lead. GCU tied it again a moment later.

A media timeout was called with 3:07 left. Coming out of the timeout, Dominican forward Alex Ward stole the ball and dunked. Guard Xander McNally hit two free throws, and then Morin was called for traveling. Guard Alastair Flack hit a two-pointer in heavy traffic, was fouled and hit the free throw, and McNally scored again to make it 62-63.

Benson knocked down a three-pointer to make it 62-56. The Penguins almost threw the ball away, but Ngoundjo was called for a foul. McNally hit the first free throw, but missed the second. Ramos then hit a trey to make it 63-59.

Another timeout was called with exactly one minute remaining.

McNally stole the ball and scored with 25 seconds left. With 16.3 seconds left, he was whistled for traveling. Flack stole the ball with 11 seconds to go, and Benson was called for a foul. Flack hit the first free throw to make it 66-59, but missed the second.

Benson missed a three-pointer. Freshman guard Alyx Foster (Phoenix, AZ/Thunderbird) was called for a foul with two seconds left, and McNally made both free throws to give Dominican a nine-point win.

The Penguins (4-10, 1-2) led at halftime, 28-26. Ngoundjo led the 'Lopes in scoring in the half with eight points.