Box Score
San Francisco, Calif. (12/13/08) -- Despite shooting 53.8% from beyond the arc as a team, the Urban Knights men's basketball team dropped a 71-80 decision to host San Francisco State University to conclude the SF State Invitational. Junior guard J.R. Cassita set a new career-high with 19 points including 5-of-6 from three-point range to pace AAU. Fresh off his own career-high from Friday afternoon, freshman point guard Marqus Crawford added with 13 points and four rebounds.
SFSU University began the contest with an 8-0 run in which they had two layups and a dunk. Freshman forward Hunter Hayden then broke the run with a layup of his own, but the Gators' Alex Thomas drained a pair of 3-pointers to give SF State a 14-4 advantage with 15:32 on the clock.
The Gators went an unbelievable 7-of-13 ( 53.8%) from beyond the arc in the first half. In fact, at one point, things became such a long-range shooting contest between the teams that Hayden even knocked down his first trey of the season at 10:07 to keep the game within single digits.
Despite nearly a four minute scoring drought, SF State maintained its lead throughout the half and went in front by 13, its largest advantage of the period, with 3:39 remaining. In the final minute, Academy of Art University made three key free throws to reduce the deficit to nine points so that the Urban Knights would be down 34-43 heading into the locker room.
After a jumper by freshman forward Lorenzo Dobson brought AAU within seven in the first two minutes of the second half, a fourth foul was called on Hayden and forced him to the bench. Later, a nice sequence came where Dobson stole the ball and a 3-pointer by Cassita in transition cut the Gator lead to six.
Unfortunately, the Urban Knights had committed eight team fouls by the 13:53 mark which resulted in 11 made free throws for SFSU down the stretch. SF State's advantage shrank to seven, 48-55, after another big-time three came at Cassita's hand with 12:07 remaining in the game. From that point on, Academy of Art University battled to stay within single digits, but an 8-0 run put the Gators comfortably ahead. Cassita put up three treys amidst a 12-1 run reduced the SFSU lead to seven with under a minute left, but it was too little too late for AAU.
Balanced scoring was apparent across the board for the Knights who had four players in double figures. Sophomore guard Phillip Samuel and Dobson each posted 10 points apiece. After missing over half of Friday night's game because of an ejection, Hayden returned to contribute nine points and pull five rebounds. Unfortunately, Hayden was also one of three players to foul out of the contest for Academy of Art University.
Led by Robert Hayes' 18 points, SFSU countered with five players posting double-digit points. Hayes also dished out six assists. CCAA player of the week and SF State's leading scorer Alex Thomas had 15 points. And Brad Visman added a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. The Gators also out-assisted AAU 17 to 9.
With the defeat, the Urban Knights move to 0-8 on the season and SF State is now 8-1 and sits atop the CCAA standings in terms of overall record.
Next up for the Academy of Art University is the University of San Diego on December 19th. Tip-off is set for 7:00PM. With this game, AAU will begin an intense four-game, four-night, three-state road trip in which they compete against UC San Diego, Cal State San Bernardino and Pacific West opponent Dixie State.
