Box Score
San Francisco, CA--Academy of Art University hosted their first home conference game of the season on Tuesday night against University of Hawaii at Hilo. The Urban Knights gave up an early lead to Vulcans and despite double digit scoring by three AAU players, the Urban Knights ended up losing the game 73-60.
Hilo jumped on the board early to take the lead, but the Urban Knights answered right back. The AAU men were able tie things up and take the lead themselves six minutes into the game. The Vulcan offense proved to be too much as they regained the lead a few minutes later and ended up taking a 13-point lead into halftime.
The Urban Knights came out strong in the second half as they were matching everything the Vulcans were putting up. Both the Academy of Art University's offense and defense matched their opponents' as the teams scored 30 points in the second half. However, Hilo's first half lead was enough for them to hold on to for the win. The Urban Knights had 17 turnovers on the night and shot only a 34 percent during the game.
“We made some plays, but we didn't make enough,” commented Head Coach Mark Sembrowich. “They made the plays and they fought us off, you have to give them credit. We just have to keep getting better.”
Junior Phillip Samuel was offensively solid for AAU throughout the entire game. He recorded 19 points, and tied a career-high by making four from behind the arc. Samuel also nabbed four rebounds in the game.
“[Phillip] has been steady for us. We need him to score and he has been scoring,” said Sembrowich.
Junior Jonathan Burnett held his own against the Vulcans with 15 points and five rebounds. He was also 7-10 from the line. Defensively, sophomore Hunter Hayden hit the boards hard and grabbed seven rebounds on the night. Hayden also scored 11 points in the game.
Hilo standout Bryan Ngo scored a game-high 22 points, had six rebounds and was 6-6 from the line. Zachary Wilde scored 15 points and Andrew Gipson managed 12 points during the game.
After the loss, the Urban Knights are now 0-1 in conference and 0-11 overall while Hawaii- Hilo has a 7-4 overall record and a 1-0 conference record. The Urban Knights will be in action again on Thursday, January 7th against Hawaii Pacific University. Game time is set for 8:00 PM at Kezar Pavilion.
