LAIE, Hawaii - The score would be tied 13 times and the lead would change hands on 19 different occasions before the game would come down to one, final shot in Laie. That shot, taken by freshman guard Gary Davis from two steps beyond half court, had the potential to tie the game and send the matchup into overtime. However, the ball rattled in and out of the iron before falling to ground as the buzzer sounded, signaling a a tough, three-point loss to BYU-Hawaii.
 
It was a very tight first half, but ART U led by as much as eight points after junior guard Kendall Brown hit a triple at the 13:29 mark. However, up until that point, Academy of Art's lead never stretched beyond seven points. The Urban Knights led for the opening 17 and a half minutes, but the Seasiders continued to inch closer until finally tying things up with 2:37 left to play in the period. The Knights jumped back out to a three-point lead, but a BYU-Hawaii layup and two free throws with less than a second on the clock gave the home team a one-point, 34-33 advantage at the buzzer; it was their first lead of the game.
 
At the beginning of the second half, the Urban Knights immediately jumped back out in front, but the game's following six scoring plays resulted in one side or the other taking a one-point lead. After four minutes of incessant lead changes, both sides found themselves tied at 41 points apiece. One minute later, Shad Watson of the Seasiders knocked down a triple to give BYU-Hawaii a three-point led, their largest lead to that point. However, a pair of made-free throws from senior forward Chris Salas and a trey from sophomore guard Cobe Williams propelled ART U back out to a three-point advantage. Both sides continued to battle for the next eight and half minutes and the lead continued to switch hands. In fact, neither side could create an advantage of more than four points.
 
With 3:34 left to play, Salas drained a jumper from inside the paint, giving the Urban Knights a two-point advantage and their final lead of the evening. From there, the Seasiders went on a 10-2 run, giving them their largest lead of the contest (six points) with just 29 seconds remaining. Despite just a few seconds on the clock, Academy of Art managed to pull within one point two more times. After the final time, BYU-Hawaii made four-consecutive shots from the charity stripe before Davis made his final attempt, hoping to send both sides into overtime.
 
Junior guard Victor Nwaba was ART U's leading scorer with 14 points. Nwaba was one of four players to reach double-digit points along with Salas and freshman forward Luka Radovic scoring 12 apiece while junior guard Uchenna Okeneme came away with 10. As a team, the Urban Knights shot 46.9 percent from the field and were able to score 19 points off of 21 forced turnovers.
 
Academy of Art now returns to San Francisco where they will close out the 2016-17 season at home. First, they will welcome in Concordia on Monday, February 20, followed by UH Hilo and Azusa Pacific on the 23rd and 25th.