Box Score

San Diego, CA -- After averaging over 80 points per game over the first four games of the season, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team could not get that same production against CCAA opponent UC San Diego in the final conference game. The Urban Knights battled but fell short on Saturday afternoon, falling 77-59 to the Tritons at RIMAC Arena. Alexis Moore had a double-double for the Knights in the loss.

The Urban Knights started off playing exactly the game they wanted, forcing a turnover and scoring the first points of the game in transition as Moore went coast-to-coast and was fouled on the layup for a three-point play. The game was back and forth for a majority of the first half, as it was an 8-7 UCSD advantage at the first media timeout. But it seemed that the Tritons were able to edge a little further away every timeout. They led 19-13 at the 10-minute mark, and 29-18 with five minutes left. But ART U was able to close the gap heading into halftime, making it a 37-30 game with both teams going to the locker room.

Out of the break, it was the Tritons, however, who took control and widened their lead, as the Urban Knights had an uncharacteristic cold stretch from the field. UCSD stretched their lead to 11 on a three-pointer from Drew Dyer at 17:21, and then neither team scored until almost two minutes later, when Moore nailed a trey of his own at 15:31 to make it 46-38.

There was another long scoreless drought by both sides, as another three, this time from Aleks Lipovic, made it an 11-point margin once again at the 14:45 marker. It wasn't until there was 13:17 left in the half that another bucket was made, but unfortunately for ART U it was by UCSD. The Knights cut it as close as seven with 11:37 to go, but the Tritons again pressed it to 13 and then over the next three minutes would score another eight straight to get to the biggest lead of the game at 21.

It would hold there for the rest of the matchup, as the Knights were held off the board. They traded buckets down the stretch, but were unable to get it back to single digits, eventually falling to the Tritons on a night where they shot 36% as a team. Moore had 14 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Alex Carmon had 13 points and nine rebounds and Aaron Aikman added 10 points down low. Adam Klie had 19 points to lead all scorers, while the Tritons made eight three-pointers in the victory. 

ART U ends their non-conference schedule, with the exception of a mid-year tournament in Las Vegas, and will start the PacWest slate on Tuesday at home against Point Loma Nazarene University.