LA MIRADA, Calif. -- For the first time in program history Academy of Art men's basketball clinched a berth to the PacWest Championship tournament with a momentous 61-57 victory over Biola Saturday night inside Chase Gym. With an 11-11 conference record, the Urban Knights will be making their first postseason appearance as the #5 seed.

Sophomore guard Stefan Milivojevic played a pivotal role in the win that sends ART U to San Rafael with a season high 22 points while shooting 11-12 from the free throw line, including critical points late in the game.

ART U knew what this game meant and started the night playing like it with a Milivojevic 3-pointer followed up by a senior center Cameron Niven layup to take a quick 5-0 lead. The Urban Knights extended their lead 11-4 on back to back layups by Niven who received brilliant feeds from Milivojevic and senior guard Cobe Williams.

ART U expanded their lead 13-4 on a Milivojevic layup before Biola launched into a comeback and tied the game at 17. A pair of free throws by Milivojevic reclaimed the lead, but the Eagles finished the half strong and took a slight 30-26 advantage into the half.

The Urban Knights tied the game almost immediately in the second half with a steal and fast break dunk by junior forward Andrija Blatancic that he followed up by finishing a tough layup. Senior guard Cole Morgan put up a layup in the paint shortly after and took a 32-30 lead with 16:46 to play. Morgan put together a solid performance with eight points, three rebounds, and an assist. The Urban Knights led 34-30 before BU scored for the first time in the second half, over six minutes into the period. After the Eagles tied the game at 34, Academy of Art went on a 9-0 run sparked by Milivojevic's second 3-pointer of the night. Over 11 minutes into the half, ART U had only allowed the Eagle's to score a miniscule five points in the second half.

With 3:18 to play, sophomore guard Dante Williams buried a step back 3-pointer to put ART U up 51-44, but BU narrowed the gap to 53-51 with 83 seconds to play. Academy of Art mitigated any Eagle momentum when Milivojevic sank his third 3-pointer of the game for a five point lead with 54 seconds to play. BU came within two with just six seconds to play, but was forced to foul immediately after the Knights inbounded to stop the clock. Much to their chagrin the ball was in the hands of Milivojevic who had been excellent from the line and drained both free throws to give the Urban Knights a 61-57 lead and shortly after, the victory.

Milivoejvic ended the night with a season high 22 points and eight rebounds. Niven trailed with 12 points while Blatancic was one point short of a double double with nine points and 12 rebounds on top of his three steals. Junior guard Victor Ruiz de Carranza had a team high five assists. 

After the historic win over Biola, Academy of Art improves to 11-16 overall and an even 11-11 in conference. ART U will now look forward to their first ever PacWest Championship tournament where they will take on the #4 seed Azusa Pacific on March 7 at 2:45 p.m.