Cal State Dominguez Hills Runs Winning Streak to Seven

The Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball team won another game with its defense Thursday night and still allowed its opponent to get close to the century mark.

“I’m not concerned with the final score, I’m more concerned with the point differential,” said Coach Dave Yanai after the Toros defeated pesky Quinnipiac College, 94-85, for their seventh consecutive victory.

Yanai’s teams have traditionally been among the nation’s top Division II defensive teams. It has not been unusual for Dominguez Hills to lose in past seasons despite holding an opponent in the low 60s.

But Yanai explained that he felt the Toros had kept Quinnipiac’s best shooters from getting the ball inside, a strongpoint for the Braves this season. And the defense, which forced Quinnipiac into 15 turnovers, helped Dominguez Hills get its fast break started.

The Toros committed 20 turnovers, but set a school record by making 40 of 49 free throws.

Dominguez Hills (9-4), which plays at Christian Heritage in El Cajon Saturday and returns to play host to Merrimac College of Massachusetts Sunday, is a victory shy of equaling the longest winning streak in school history, set in 1988-89 when the Toros went 20-10 and advanced to the Western Regionals. Yanai said breaking the record is very possible.

Quinnipiac (4-5), a Division II school in Connecticut and a member of the Northeast 10 Conference, had not played a game in two weeks. But from three-point range the Braves looked sharp, setting season highs for number of three-point baskets (11) and attempts (21).

Dominguez Hills, with five players scoring in double figures, had its best offensive game of the season, but also had its worst defensive effort. Sal Serrano had 16 points, Albert Kiilehua added 16 points, Michael Moore had 15, Ray Bennett added 14 and John Brown had 11 for the Toros.

The Toros appeared to have secured the victory early with a 23-5 spurt that pushed their lead to 40-23 with four minutes left in the first half. But Quinnipiac battled back to trail, 82-77, with three minutes left in the game.