Box Score

SEATTLE — All the preseason talk and hype came to fruition for the Academy of Art University men's basketball team Friday night in Royal Brougham Pavilion.
 

A video posted by Be Artist. Be Athlete. (@artu_knights) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:53pm PST

After a long, determined offseason of preparation, the Urban Knights did what they came to do in their opening game of the 2014 Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, upsetting No. 22-ranked Seattle Pacific in a 70-67 victory on the Falcons' home court.
 
The win was the program's first over a ranked team in its seven-year history. It was the first time ART U beat Seattle Pacific in four all-time meetings and the second year in a row the Urban Knights opened the season with a victory. Making the win even more special was the fact that it was only SPU's fifth home loss since the 2011-12 season, while at the same time it was the Knights' first road win since Feb. 26, 2013.
 
"A job well done by the guys tonight," said Academy of Art head coach Julius Barnes. "Seattle Pacific has long been a great program and I believe our guys really relished the opportunity to see how they stacked up against such a strong opponent. My assistants (Jeremiah Barnes and Phillip Samuel ('12)) also deserve a ton of credit for the work they put in to make sure our guys were prepared."
 
Friday's game saw 14 lead changes and 18 tie scores. And after the Urban Knights (1-0) took a six-point, 23-17 lead with 9 minutes, 47 seconds to play in the first half, neither team separated itself by more than four points the rest of the way.
 
The victory itself came down to the very last second, as Seattle Pacific's (0-1) Will Parker threw up a deep 3-point attempt from just left of the top of the arc, which bounced high off the back rim and into the hands of senior guard Alexis Moore with 0.8 seconds left, sealing the 70-67 triumph.
 
Moore led Academy of Art with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Junior forward Yanick Kulich was the Knights' other double-digit scorer with 15 points. 10 different Urban Knights played no less than 11 minutes, nine different players scored at least two points and nine grabbed at least one rebound in a full team effort.
 
"We got contributions from everyone tonight," said Barnes. "Guys stepped up and made plays when they had to, especially in the final minutes.  We were able to get defensive stops when we needed them down the stretch and guys like Trent Stokes and Herman Pratt IV were able to step to the line and knock down free throws in the clutch."
 
ART U played especially well down the stretch. In the final 2 1/2 minutes of the game, Kulich made both of the Urban Knights' final two field goal attempts while Stokes and Pratt went a combined 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. In the same span, Seattle Pacific went 0 for 4 from the field and 1 for 2 from the charity stripe.
 
The poor shooting from Seattle Pacific, who struggled for most of the night with the Urban Knights' tenacious defense, allowed ART U to go on an 8-1 run in the game's final 3:37 to win. That tenacious 'D' forced two key jump balls with less than 50 seconds to play, first flipping the possession arrow to ART U's side, then taking the ball away with a 68-67 lead and 47.3 seconds on the clock. Both jump balls came off of missed jumpers by SPU's Cory Hutsen.
 
Seattle Pacific also had two double-digit scorers with Hutsen and Matt Borton both scoring 10 points. Riley Stockton had a game-high nine rebounds to go with eight points. SPU outrebounded ART U 34-26, but the Urban Knights outshot the hosts 50 percent to 42 percent.
 
The Knights played from behind for most of the last five minutes of the contest after the Falcons themselves had clawed back to tie it for the 16th time at 61-61. But during the time between the 61-61 tie and Kulich's back-to-back jumpers – which tied the game at 66-66 – the Falcons were only able to get five free throws while going 0 for 2 from the floor.
 
"I'm proud of the guys and I'm sure they'll enjoy this feeling tonight," said Barnes. "However, the road is long and we'll have to be ready to play tomorrow against another tough opponent in Central Washington."
 
Academy of Art faces off against the Wildcats at 3 p.m. Saturday in a pseudo-"championship game" of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic. Central Washington was a 65-52 winner over Minnesota State Crookston Friday.