OAKLAND, CALIF. – Academy of Art men's basketball (3-6, 2-1 PacWest) exuded dominance over Holy Names (1-9, 0-3 PacWest) on Sunday. The Urban Knights never trailed and used the combined-efforts of four players with double-digit points to take home their second-consecutive victory.
In the first play of the game, freshman forward
Luka Radovic jumped in the air to win the jump ball. Just nine seconds later, the Cacak, Serbia native put up a layup which gave the Knights the lead and set the tone for the rest of the evening. After tying the contest 2-2, Holy Names would trail for the remainder of the period. In fact, Academy of Art jumped out to a 9-point lead with 9:29 remaining in the half. The Hawks would threaten to mount a comeback, however. With the score 21-12 in favor of ART U, HNU responded with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to two points. In the remaining 7:27, Holy Names' deficit would never stoop below seven points, and the Hawks eventually brought the score to within one (34-33) as the opening half came to a close.
When the second period commenced, the Urban Knights looked to shake the Hawks, but HNU continued to match ART U's numbers and did not find themselves trailing by more than eight points in the opening 15 minutes. It was then that Academy of Art found their stride. In fact, after being tied 51-51 at the 11:13 mark, the Knights proceeded to go on a 28-9 run over the next 10 minutes to take a commanding, 19-point lead. The streak was highlighted by three Urban Knights including senior guard
Herman Pratt IV and freshman forward
Ivan Furlan who each scored six points during the span, and Radovic who contributed five points of his own. With just 1:43 remaining in the game, ART U managed to maintain their lead and came away with a 13-point 83-70 victory.
After Monday's win against
BYU-Hawaii, the Urban Knights gained their second-consecutive victory on Sunday, improving to 2-1 in the PacWest and entering a three-way tie for fourth-place with No. 3 California Baptist and Dixie State. Leading the way against the Hawks was junior guard
Uchenna Okeneme. The 6'1 advertising major tied his season-high with 18 points after going 7-for-9 from the field (77.7 percent) and adding seven rebounds (also a season-best).
"Uchenna can attack the basket, hit the mid-range off of the pull-up, and is great defensively," said head coach
Julius Barnes. "When we slid him over to the number two spot, it helped take the pressure off of running the offense and allowed him to be more aggressive in the attack."
Three other Knights reached double-digits figures against the Hawks, including Radovic's career-tying 15 points (four rebounds), Pratt's 12 points (two rebounds), and freshman guard
Dante Williams' 10 points (three rebounds). As a team, ART U produced several impressive numbers including the second-best field-goal percentage in program history (60.7 percent), including a 69.0 percent second half. The Knights' 34-for-56 affair tied for the fifth-most field goals ever recorded in an Academy of Art men's basketball game. The last time that the Urban Knights scored 34 baskets was
November 8, 2013 when they defeated Cal State Easy Bay 97-80. Furthermore, ART U's .607 field-goal percentage fell just .004 shy of the program record set on
December 10, 2011 when they beat Simon Fraser 84-83 on the road.
"I'm pleased with what we have been able to do defensively," said Barnes. "I also believe that these last two games have shown that when we speed up the game, it gives us energy and allows us to get out on the break and convert."
Academy of Art's win over HNU also marks their last of the calendar year as the Urban Knights will not compete again until January 5. Then, they will ring in the new year with a game against Dixie State inside Kezar Pavilion.
"This win was great for us," said Barnes. "We were in a bit of a lull after playing some tough teams early on, but we were able to get the job done against two quality opponents this week…We're hoping to begin the new year on this same, high-note."
