BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team's last-minute rally came up just short as Western Washington held on to win the season-opener 92-88 at Carver Gym Friday night.
 
While having trailed the entire game, the Toros did erase a 17-point deficit and got to within two with 11 seconds left thanks to back-to-back CSUDH 3-pointers by newcomer Nick Kornieck and senior Wonder Smith. The four Viking free throws in the end eventually became the difference in the game.
 
Smith was one of four Toros to reach double figures in points, dropping 20 with 13 coming from the charity stripe. Fellow senior Andrew Whitsett had 19 points and nine rebounds, Colten Kresl had 14 points and Bradley tallied 11.
 
As they showed in their exhibition games last week, the Toros, yet again, won the rebounding 39-34. Whitsett came up a board short from completing a double-double.
 
The Vikings, picked as the favorite to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, shot 52 percent from the field while making 13 shots from 3-point range. D'Angelo Minnis scored 22 points; Jalen Green followed with 20 along with eight boards.
 
Dominguez Hills ended up trailing 51-40 at halftime. The Vikings extended the lead to 74-57 eight minutes into the second half for the largest deficit.
 
The Toros return to Carver Gym Saturday to take on Simon Fraser. Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m.