Box Score
San Francisco, CA -- The Academy of Art University men's basketball team played their hearts out Thursday night against Hawaii Pacific University, but could not hold on and wound up taking an 80-69 loss when the final horn sounded. Junior guard Phillip Samuel finished with a team-high 17 points while junior forward Jonathan Burnett put in 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting. AAU falls to 0-12 overall, 0-2 in PacWest while HPU stays atop the conference standings with a 10-3 overall record, 2-0 in PacWest.
Hawaii Pacific came out looking to use its height over the Knights with a long range attack evidenced by the ten 3-pointers launched by the Sea Warriors in the first 11 minutes. While the three-ball did help give HPU an eight-point lead with 10:33 on the clock, the halftime score would be very different. A 7-1 run by AAU midway through the period put the home team within two points, but it was the 6-1 surge by the Knights in the final two minutes that made the scoreboard read 41-38 with the Sea Warriors only barely on top at the break.
“We knew that they were really big and really physical,” Head Coach Mark Sembrowich said. “They had us in height and weight at probably every position so we talked about it as being extremely physical and competitive.”
The Urban Knights answered the call and responded by shooting an impressive 50 percent from the floor (15-of-30) in the first half with Burnett and freshman guard Jordan Knox contributing eight points apiece to lead the way. Knox was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
Academy of Art took its first lead of the game on two free throws calmly sunk by Samuel in the first minute following halftime. A three-point advantage came moments later when junior guard Lance Olivier buried a trey, but the visitors came back with an 8-2 burst that would give them what turned out to be a permanent lead.
As Hawaii Pacific steadily built itself a 75-60 score, AAU would not let it get too far. A big moment came when Olivier found Samuel for a 3-pointer on a fast break and the lead was cut to 10. Unfortunately for the Urban Knights, there wasn't enough time to make a further comeback and HPU took home the victory.
“We made progress, we just haven't made enough progress yet,” Coach Sembrowich said. “The way this game played, there were opportunities to maybe shoot the ball. We did get the ball inside early which really helped soften them up a little bit. We did have good energy to start the game and we need that especially when we're the smaller guy. You need to have that the whole time and we went about as long as we can.”
The leading rebounder for Academy of Art wound up being freshman guard Ivan Prema, Jr. who stands just 6-1. He pulled down eight rebounds including five in the first period. Samuel and Burnett paced the team in scoring, but the pair got their points in different ways: Samuel was 8-of-10 from the free throw line and Burnett had the aforementioned nearly flawless night shooting from the floor.
“I'm glad [Phillip] could get to the line and get 10 free throws,” Coach Sembrowich said. “Jonathan was much more efficient. Six-of-seven is the kind of production that makes him real effective. Those guys both scored well. They both bring good energy and they're trying, but we need more.”
Freshman forward Aaron Aikman played a strong 20 minutes off the bench and had six points to go with a season-high six rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. Knox, another offensive weapon off the bench, had eight points and two assists.
HPU guard Mike Helton finished with a game-high 26 points and was backed by forward C.J. Jackson who scored 14 points to go with 16 rebounds. Guard Ray Murdock added 16 points and the trio combined to go 15-of-18 from the free throw line.
Academy of Art University men's basketball continues with the third installment of its five-game homestand when the Urban Knights take on PacWest foe Dixie State on Jan. 16. The contest will be played at UCSF-Bakar Fitness with tipoff set for 7:30 PM directly following the women's game.
