The Urban Knights' record may be 0-2, but Head Coach Mark Sembrowich has already seen improvement. After facing The Master's College this past weekend and besting the Mustangs in second-chance points, 16-6, as well as in bench points, 17-15, Academy of Art University men's basketball has more confidence looking ahead to a challenging weekend in Washington.
Although AAU fell to TMC 75-64 last Saturday, Nov. 21, the Knights still had reasons to be proud of their performance. The Master's College caught fire and managed a 17-point advantage in the first half, but Academy of Art would not give up. AAU rallied back with a 10-4 run to end the period and then cut the lead down to three points on four separate occasions in the second half.
“We did a lot of things better [last Saturday],” Coach Sembrowich said. “We were better in transition as far as getting back. We didn't do a good job of containing their point guard as he had 30 points, but he's a very good player. Had we executed better a little better when we were down by three points, 56-53, we could have had a potentially different outcome. They went four consecutive plays posting up and we couldn't stop it. They knew immediately where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. We didn't go a good job defending and then they went from up three to up eleven.”
Junior guard Phillip Samuel led the Knights with 25 points including four 3-pointers in the contest. He added four rebounds and two steals along with his 8-of-17 shooting from the floor.
“Phillip did a good job,” Coach Sembrowich said. “We did a good job finding him. He got his shot to fall and I think he started shooting it with more confidence. Most of his shots came in the flow of the game. We certainly don't expect that out of him every night because 25 points is definitely too much to ask, but it is nice knowing that he's capable.”
The other Urban Knight to score in double figures was freshman guard Jordan Knox. Knox was called upon to relieve junior point guard Lance Olivier and dished out three assists in addition to scoring 14 points.
“Jordan did come off the bench and came in as the back-up point guard,” Coach Sembrowich said. “That's a different kind of role and he did a pretty good job at it. We are happy with that.”
This past Saturday was another occasion to see how the team was beginning to put the pieces together, but Coach Sembrowich felt like the Knights could still improve in terms of taking care of the ball.
“We had chances and we still need to work,” Coach Sembrowich said. “We had 22 turnovers and we want that thing under 15. We need to do a better job of that. Although it doesn't show up in the win-loss column, we were better than last Saturday. The bus ride home was long because we realized we could have won this game.”
Looking ahead to this weekend's 11th Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Western Washington University, the Urban Knights will face two of the four teams that finished with at least 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference wins last year. Western Washington (5-1), the best team in the GNAC in 2009-10, is up first.
“This weekend is going to be tough,” Coach Sembrowich said. “[Western Washington] has seven seniors and they're big and strong.”
Following the game against WWU, Academy of Art faces a Saint Martin's squad that posted a 22-8 overall record a season ago. The Saints are 2-0 thus far with victories over two PacWest teams.
“I have a lot of respect for [Saint Martin's],” Coach Sembrowich said. “We will prep our scouting reports the same. After we're done with WWU, we will turn our focus to Saint Martin's. These programs are good teams and this will provide us with a benchmark for what our program needs to look like as we grow.”
