COSTA MESA-- After a three-game road trip, men's basketball returned to the Freed Center with a comfortable 73-56 win over Dominican on Thursday evening. The Blue and Gold trailed for just two minutes and led in four of the five major statistical categories to earn their largest margin of victory in Pacific West Conference play this season. VU snapped a nine-game loss streak to improve to 12-13 overall, 6-13 in the PacWest, while the Penguins drop to 9-18, 4-15.

Leonard Turner's consistent scoring flow netted him a team-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. He also snagged eight rebounds and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.  Anthony Tello had a hot first half and finished with 12 points, while Chris Chiles filled the stat sheet and took over in the second half, tallying 11 points, a season-best six assists, and three rebounds. Devin Carson led the second unit with eight points, Aibigho Ujadughele collected seven, and Pape Cisse and Jackson Larsen each finished with six points apiece. DU's Darius Best marked a game-high 19 points, going 7-for-9 from the charity stripe.

VU shot 40% (10-25) from three for the second game in a row. They held the Penguins to 33% (18-55) shooting and just 19% (4-21) from deep. The Lions also hung tough with the best rebounding team in the conference (40-36 DU) and won the duel in points in the paint 34-26. In addition, Vanguard claimed fast break points (15-6) and bench points (26-18) decidedly on the night.

What Happened? Tello scored all 12 of his points in the first period and was crisp from the opening tip to help VU lead 6-2. Both Bryson Metz and Tello secured blocks in transition to stymie the visitors, but the Penguins made a 7-2 push to plant themselves in front 9-8 after five minutes of action. The Vanguard bench showed up with a Carson layup down the lane and a putback finish from Cisse to bring the score back level at 12-12 three minutes later.

Best produced a bucket to put the Penguins back in front, but the Lions halfcourt defense began to set the clamps for the final 10 minutes of the interval. VU forced 10 of DU's eventual 16 turnovers in the match to fuel a 17-7 run and go up 29-19, courtesy of a Robert Aguirre Jr. three-ball with 4:47 left in the first. The Lions later capped the half with a transition bucket by Tello to control the scoreboard 32-23 at the break.

The Blue and Gold never trailed in the second half, as they clipped 51% (15-29) of their total efforts and cashed in on 43% (6-14) of their three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Turner and Larsen combined for the first 12 points of the half for VU, setting the score at 45-36. The Penguins searched for opportunities to knot the deficit in single digits, but a Ujadughele trey and two-handed slam from Cisse kept the visitors at bay.

Chiles caught heat in the final 10 minutes of game time to put the game to rest. He scored or assisted on 17 of the next 22 VU points to make it 69-56 before stepping off for the night. Micah Swartz and Carson Frawley linked up for the final bucket of the night as Frawley scored on a reverse layup to end proceedings inside the Freed Center.

What's Next? The Lions close their season with a Senior Day clash against Menlo on Saturday, March 1, at 2 pm, with the senior day ceremony taking place before the game begins.