IRVINE, Calif. - Saturday turned out to be a fantastic Senior Day for the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team!

The Golden Eagles celebrated their seniors by extending their careers with a 68-59 home victory over Dominican. Coupled with Jessup's upset of Fresno Pacific on Senior Day for the Warriors, Concordia clinched a spot in the upcoming PacWest Conference Tournament that will begin on Thursday up in San Rafael, California.

Senior Jaden Henderson led the way with 28 points and eight rebounds. Fellow senior Connor Gleason turned into Connor Three-son for part of the first half, as all nine of his points came on triples in the first 20 minutes of action.  

Kaden Minter and Charlie Dalton also combined for 17 points.  Free throw shooting was important in this one too, as Henderson went 8-for-10 at the line and Jayce Catchings converted seven of his eight free throw attempts as well.

Dominican led 34-33 at halftime, but CUI opened the second half with an impressive 12-0 run. Clamping down on defense, the Golden Eagles did not allow the visiting Penguins to score until after the first media timeout, and by then they had turned a one-point deficit into a double-digit cushion.

Charlie Dalton was instrumental during this sequence, as he converted three floaters in the painted area and added another layup off a smart cut as CUI took control of the contest.  CUI wound up shooting 41 percent while holding Dominican to 34.5 percent shooting.

Concordia closed the regular season on a 4-game winning streak and now gets to experience postseason play.

Next up for the Golden Eagles is a trip up to Northern California - ironically to Dominican's gym - where they will face Hawai'i Hilo in the PacWest Conference Tournament quarterfinals. The game is scheduled to begin Thursday, March 6 at 7:15 p.m. PT at the Icebox and will be the fourth and last quarterfinal game of the day. CUI is the No. 5 seed and the Vulcans are the No. 4 seed. 

CLICK HERE for the PacWest Conference Tournament Website

The winner of that contest will advance to play again at 7:15 p.m. PT against top-seeded Point Loma on Friday evening.  Biola is on the other side of the bracket with a first-round bye and awaits the winner of the 3 vs 6 game featuring Academy of Art and Westmont.

CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's basketball schedule