COSTA MESA – After a testy offensive possession nearly fell to the wayside, Tony Colley drained a straightaway three to hand Vanguard a one-point lead with 23 seconds remaining. The clutch time bucket was Colley's ninth point (3-7) of the evening, and the nail in the coffin for a 77-74 Lion win over Dominican on Thursday night at the Freed Center.

The Blue and Gold played a persistent game of catch-up with the Penguins, only leading for two of the 40 minutes played, but holding out to tack on back to back wins win for just the third time this season. Vanguard moves to 11-7, 7-5 in the Pacific West Conference, while Dominican falls to 11-8, 6-7 in league action.

Erik Howlin delivered 16 points and four assists in the win, shooting 5-11 from the floor 1-3 from downtown, and 5-7 from the charity strip. Dylan Swillis was aggressive to the rim to finish with 13 points (5-9 FG) in 19 minutes. Aibigho Ujadughele had his best three-pointing night in his Lion career, going 50% (3-6) to net 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
It was a shooting clinic from both teams, with the Lions going 10-25 (40%) from three and DUC unloading a season-best 63% from three-point land (7-11). Vanguard had a conference high 18 assists and brutalized the box score in fast break points (20-8), bench points (35-23), points off turnovers (13-3), and second chance points (13-3) to overcome the Penguins

What Happened?
As they would until late in the second half, Dominican set the game's pace from tip-off, opening the match on a 14-6 run that featured three of their five first-half three-pointers. The Lions drew first blood through Pape Cisse, who got to work from the low block and was helped by Ujadughele and Howlin for the first points in a slow Lion start.

Cisse secured the first pair of VU second-chance points of the night with the tip-in at close range (14-8 DUC), and Howlin raced his way to rack in transition to cut the lead at six (16-10 DUC). Bryson Metz had dibs on Vanguard's first three-ball on the evening, connecting from the right wing to make it a one-possession game (16-13). The Penguins pressed on a 4-0 spurt to restore some comfort at the next media timeout.

Out of the break, VU outpaced DUC, spearing out a 13-7 scoring split to put the deficit at one (27-26 DUC). The Lions used a pair of Howlin fast break points, a Carson Frawley corner three, and Devin Carson three-ball to finish the move in transition, courtesy of the Robert Aguirre Jr. dime.

Dominican did not take long to restore order to their confident first half, anchoring their best run of the game, a 10-0 stretch to lock down their largest lead (11) of the game at 37-26. The Lions would finish off three more field goals in the four minutes of the half, with five points from Colley and a Kailen Rains find in transition to exit the period.
Rains picked up where he left off, splashing the first of six (6-13) VU three-pointers in the second half. A Cisse tip-in was next on the menu, and Ujadughele and Erik Howlin combined for back-to-back threes to make it a one-point game once again (47-46 DUC).

What followed was an infusion of free throws between both teams as they combined for a 20-26 clip in the closing stages. The Penguins survived a four-minute field goal drought on the back of charity stripe visits (65-60).

With 7:34 left to go, Ujadughele sank his final three of the contest to send Dominican on the backfoot. VU's frequent chipping at the DUC lead was rewarded by Carson's free throw for their first lead of the game (66-65).

It was a cagey conclusion at the Freed Center, with Swillis scoring four straight and Sammy Howlin supplying a big block to keep the game in the balance (72-72). Then, Dominican netted a go-ahead bucket with 54 seconds on the clock to nurse a two-point lead.

The Lion possession out of the timeout seemed like one to forget, but with four seconds on the clock, Colley took the initiative. The transfer slipped past two Penguins and pulled up for a straightaway three, which was drained at the buzzer to hand the home team a decisive one-point lead (75-74 VU).

The Penguins had three looks to even the odds in the final 20 seconds, but turned it over twice and saw their third look denied by Sammy Howlin to secure the Vanguard win.

What's Next? The Lions welcome Hawaii Pacific on Saturday, with the opening tip set for 6 p.m.