Behind an impressive defensive effort, the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team emerged victorious in its first PacWest Conference game of the season with an emphatic 87-70 win at Dominican.

Concordia forced Dominican to commit 20 turnovers which led to 34 points for the Eagles.  With their defense setting the tone, the Eagles swooped in for easy buckets and were able to fend off any chances of a comeback by the Penguins.

Brian Chambers scored 17 points to lead the offensive attack, Robert Taylor added 14 and Jamel White chipped in with a dozen to help the Eagles earn their fourth consecutive win.

"Defense was a focal point that really showed tonight," said Taylor who led CUI with four steals.  "Our chemistry clicking is a big reason why we've won a couple in a row. Being able to stay focused and be nasty on defense is why we are able to go on big runs like we did tonight."

Concordia broke the game wide open early in the first half with a stunning 20-2 run.  After briefly falling behind Dominican 7-5, Taylor converted a layup and a trey to put the Eagles in front 10-7.

Moments later, Cameron English made a layup and Austin Clarke knocked down a three to extend the CUI advantage to 15-7.  After Chambers hit a jumper, fellow senior Tyler Lacour took over and scored Concordia's next eight points to push the lead to 25-9.

Concordia led 38-28 at the break and refused to take the foot off the gas pedal.

The Eagles led by as many as 21 in the second half and Dominican never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

"I was very proud of how well everyone prepared tonight," said Concordia head coach Ken Ammann.  "A complete team effort. Every guy was very focused on competing for 40 minutes to get an early conference road win against a very tough opponent. We defended at a high level and made it tough on them which led to a great result."

CUI improved to 5-4 overall and has now won its last four contests by an average of 15.5 points.

"The biggest key to winning for us was executing on defense, we competed as a team and made sure they were uncomfortable on offense," said White.  "We came together and fought all night. It's a good way to start off conference."

The Green and Gold will look to make it five straight wins when Academy of Art welcomes the Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. 

Concordia's next home game is Wednesday Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. against Azusa Pacific on "Ugly Christmas Sweater Night."