SAN FRANCISCO — With three seconds left to play, Dominican's Reverend Maduakor put-in a layup as the Penguins edged Stanislaus State, 60-58, in the season opener for both teams at the SF State Tip-Off Classic Friday night.
Stan State leader
Kaelen Mitchell nailed a trey with 19 seconds remaining to tie the game, but the Warriors suffered the opening defeat due to their inconsistency to properly handle the ball under full-court press.
Mitchell made a successful debut as a Warrior, leading all players with 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting including three three-pointers.
Kyle Gouveia chipped in 13 points on a prolific 6-for-9 shooting night.
Vondel Faniel pulled 10 rebounds and made all four of his shots for eight points. Gouveia also had seven rebounds.
Dominican (1-0) was led by Maduakor's 14 points and Ryo Tawatari scored 11 points. The Penguins, though, cashed on the Stan State miscues, scoring 17 points off turnovers.
The Warriors found its groove early in the second half and took a 33-30 lead 3-and-a-half minutes in on a Faniel layup. But, Dominican turned to its full court press and forced turnovers to swing the momentum.
Dominican had a seven-point lead with 5:09 left to play, put Jaelen Ragsadle scored five straight points to cut into the lead. A Mitchell layup tied the game at 2:01. The Warriors' final bucket would not come again until 19 ticks left — that Mitchell game tying triple.
Stanislaus State show promise with its shooting, finishing the night with a solid 44.9 percent from the field. The Warriors also again controlled the paint, outscoring the Penguins 26-16 and out-rebounding them 37-34.
The Warriors will face Academy of Art on Saturday, at 5 p.m., for another game in the TIp-Of Classic.
