TURLOCK -- Warriors Head Coach Keith Larsen believes that a 91-83 loss Saturday at the hands of Dominican University in the final game of the County Bank Classic at Warrior Arena is actually a good thing for the team.

"Maybe we're 4-0 and we head into conference play thinking that we're better than everyone else," Larsen said. "Now these guys definitely don't think that, and come Monday we're going to show them how fast San Francisco (State) and (Cal State) Monterey (Bay) play, because they play fast, and they have young coaches who have a lot of energy and will show these guys how to play."

The loss was the first for the Warriors, bringing their season record to 3-1. Even with the loss, the 3-0 start was the best for the Warriors since 2000-01. The Dominican Penguins improve to 3-5 overall and finish the County Bank Classic with a 1-1 record. The Warriors are now 2-1 all-time against Dominican.

The Warriors had two different leads of eight points and six points during the second half, and led 71-65 with 6 minutes, 33 seconds to play in the game after freshman Brandon Curtis hit one of his four 3-pointers on the night. Curtis finished with a career-high 20 points after going 8-for-11 from the field, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, to lead the Warriors.

The Warriors had five players score in double digits Saturday. Along with Curtis, senior Chris Hayes tied career highs in points and rebounds by contributing 15 on the scoreboard and pulling down seven boards. Junior Matt Ibewiro just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Senior Michael Dyson scored 13 points and Benny Koochoie had 12.

After taking a six point lead with 6 1/2 minutes to play in the game, Cal State Stanislaus' defense dissappeared and allowed an 11-0 run by the Penguins that would decide the final outcome of the game. Dominican had a great night shooting the ball, making 57.1 percent of their shots in the game, including a 62.1 percent showing in the first half.

Dominican also had five players score in double figures, led by Chris DeMarco who scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds.

The game's biggest discrepancy came from the charity stripe. The Warriors were 13-for-24 from the free-throw line as a team. Dominican shot 74.1 percent, making 20 of 27 chances. The Warriors were also outrebounded by the Penguins, 34-32, although the Warriors were able to grab more offensive boards, with a 13-9 edge in that category.

The Warriors will take a week off before they open California Collegiate Athletic Association play on the road at 7:30 p.m Dec. 5 against San Francisco State. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6, the Warriors will move to Cal State Monterey Bay for another CCAA contest. Both the Gators and the Otters made the CCAA Championship Tournament last season.

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