Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Hailey Archambault)

San Francisco, CA -- With their home winning streak on the line on Saturday afternoon, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team was unable to keep up its strong defensive tone that they set last week, falling 95-83 to Chaminade. The Silverswords scored almost as many points as the Urban Knights had allowed in their past two games combined, and despite the Knights having another solid offensive night, the game turned into a track meet, with the Swords using 34 points from Bennie Murray to leave Kezar Pavilion victorious.

"It's a setback. Nobody likes to lose, everybody wants to win," said head coach Julius Barnes. "But we'll continue what we've been doing and what we've been preaching. Defense is key for us. If you allow a team to score 95 points and shoot almost 60 percent, no matter how well you're playing on offense, that's not going to get it done."

Chaminade certainly does play small, with no one over 6'7 on their roster, and with all five starters 6'4 or under. But that didn't seem to bother the Swords at all, as their small lineup was able to get up and down the court well, turning the game into a fast-paced barn-burner early on. Two free-throws by Lee Bailey made it a 19-8 ballgame with just under 12 minutes left in the first, and the Swords were able to keep the Knights at arms length the rest of the first half.

Back-to-back jumpers by Ameer Shamsud-din cut the lead to five at 28-23 with a little over five minutes to play, but the Silverswords finished the half off with a three-pointer from Bennie Murray and a pair of free throws by Dominique Cooks to go into the locker room up 42-33. At the break, Murray and Waly Coulibaly already had 13 and 12 points, respectively to lead all scorers, while the Swords shot 48.3 percent from the floor. The Urban Knights actually had the exact same efficiency from the floor (48.3 percent) but were 2-for-7 from three-point range compared to 5-for-11 for Chaminade.

"We knew there were going to matchup problems with them basically playing five guards," said Barnes. "There's nothing you can do but hope that the defense was a little better. We had a good game plan but it's hard when they shoot 58 percent for the game. Defensively we just didn't have it today."

The same five started the second half for both teams, and the Silverswords heated up even more as Murray continued to shoot well from the field. The two teams traded buckets, with Bryan Fisher nailing a three-pointer to cut it to a five-point game once again with 16:23 to go in the second half. But then Murray made two free throws and sunk a triple of his own, combining with Kevin Hu to score ten straight for the Swords. Back-to-back jumpers from De'Andre Haskins pushed the lead to 16 with 14:21 to go.

Academy of Art cut it back to single digits on a three-pointer by Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. with 7:58 to go, but it was Benny Murray again who bailed out Chaminade, making a layup to put them up ten and later another triple to make the margin 14, and the Silverswords eventually won by a dozen to hand the Knights their first loss on their home floor. Murray would go 7-of-7 in the second half to finish with a game-high 34 points. Coulibaly added 20 for the Swords, while Haskins had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

For the Knights, Alex Carmon led the way with 21 points and five assists. Shamsud-din had 17 points and four assists, while Fisher flirted with a triple-double, totaling 20 points and dishing out seven assists and pulling down seven boards, all while playing the entire 40 minutes.

"Although we lost, you've got to tip your cap to them because they made some tough shots," said Fisher. "We've got to get back in practice and focus on defense and go over the film and see what we've got to figure out."

The Knights shot a solid 50 percent from the floor for the game, including a 43.8 percent mark from beyond the arc. But the Swords shot 70.8 percent in the second half, led by Murray, and finished shooting 55.6 percent from three-point land.

"Any time you give up 90 points and you allow a team to shoot 58 percent from the field, that's going to hurt your chances," said Barnes. "Offensively we didn't struggle, but they had an answer for every run."

The Knights will head down south to play Point Loma Nazarene University, California Baptist, and Azusa Pacific before returning to Kezar to play Dixie State on February 9th.