Game #30
No. 6 seed ART U Urban Knights (12-17, 10-12 PacWest) at No. 3 seed Chaminade Silverswords (17-10, 15-7 PacWest)
Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 5 p.m.
Azusa, Calif. – Felix Event Center 
Live Stats and Live Video
 
Game #31 *If Necessary*
No. 6 seed ART U Urban Knights (12-17, 10-12 PacWest) vs. No. 2 seed PLNU Sea Lions (22-6, 18-4 PacWest)
Friday, March 6, 2020 at 5 p.m.
Azusa, Calif. – Felix Event Center
Live Stats and Live Video
 
Game #32 *If Necessary*
PacWest Championship Game
Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 4:30 p.m.
Azusa, Calif. – Felix Event Center 
Live Stats and Live Video

 
LET'S GO DANCING
The Urban Knights won seven of their final 10 games down the stretch of the regular season to make the Pacific West Conference Championship for the second time in program history and second time in as many years. A 70-68 win over Concordia on Feb. 22 set up ART U to control its own destiny for the postseason, and the Urban Knights punched their ticket on the final day of the season with a 67-60 win over Notre Dame de Namur.
 
TIP-OFF
ART U will be in action against Chaminade in the first contest on the men's side of the PacWest Championship, with game one getting underway at 5 pm. on Thursday. Should the Urban Knights advance, round two would also start at 5 p.m. against No. 2 seed Point Loma, while the PacWest Championship game would commence at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps. 
 
KNIGHT WATCH
The Urban Knights needed to match records with UH Hilo over the final two games of the season to keep the tiebreaker for the final spot of the PacWest Championship. Both teams would lose on Thursday, as ART U could not defend home court on senior night in a 88-73 loss to PLNU despite receiving 19 points and nine rebounds from junior forward Josh Hill. Four other players would score in double-figures for ART U, including senior guard Victor Ruiz de Carranza who ended with 14 points and six boards. There would also be a record set in the loss, as junior guard Stefan Milivojevic would become the ART U career scoring leader with 877 points, topping the old record of 876 points set by Ameer Shamsud-din (2011-13). The Urban Knights would not give up, as they would go into the final day and clinch their spot in the postseason, topping NDNU 67-60. Hill would once again lead the way, ending with a game-high 20 points and six rebounds. Ruiz de Carranza, the second leading rebounder in ART U history, would snag 13 rebounds to pair with seven points, while junior guard Stefan Milivojevic totaled 13 points and seven rebounds. 

Several Urban Knights would finish towards the top of the PacWest leaderboards, beginning with Milivojevic at fourth in the conference in scoring by averaging 17.4 points per game. His other rankings include leading the conference in free throw percentage at 87.5 percent, first in 3-point percentage at 46.1 percent, and eighth in shooting percentage at 52.6 percent. His 3-point percentage would mark him at 13th in all of NCAA Division II. Joining Milivojevic is Hill, who is second in rebounding average with 8.0 rebounds per game, while Ruiz de Carranza also appears on that list in 10th place with an average of 6.4 boards per game. Junior guard Joshua Bagley is in the top-10 in the conference in assists, placing ninth with an average of 2.9 assists per game.

RECORD CHASING
While there have been numerous individual records set, it has also been a year of program records as a team for the Urban Knights. ART U has tied program record for wins in a season with 12, but can still add to that in the postseason tournament. Offensive records have fallen, as ART U has set new marks for points in a season (2041), rebounds (1077), field goals made (757), 3-point field goals (206), and assists (424). Currently, the Urban Knights have the second highest program mark for 3-point percentage (.368) and are tied for the second-best program mark in shooting percentage (.454). Twice this year has ART U broke program record for shooting percentage (best: 64.2 percent vs UH Hilo on Feb. 15). Against Holy Names on Feb. 13, ART U tied the third most points in a single game in school history with 99. In the same game, they set a new program record for assists in a single game this season with 26 and 3-pointers in a single game with 13.
 
On the individual side, Milivojevic has already broken a number of records including 3-point field goals both in his career (139) and in a single season (73), field goals in a single season (167), and scoring in single season (506 points). In the final home game of the year against PLNU, Milivojevic took down the career scoring record as well, beating Ameer Shamsud-din's mark of 876 points, as Milivojevic ended the regular season with a career total of 890 points. In the final game of the year against NDNU, Milivojevic has taken over the top spot for field goals made in a career with 303, just barely edging out the old record of 302 by Shamsud-din. A rebounding record has also fallen, as Hill is now the top rebounder in a single season in ART U history with 231, squashing the 202 set by Blatancic last year. In 3-point field goal percentage (minimum 25 made), senior guard Nemanja Kovacevic and Milivojevic are first and second, respectively. This season, Kovacevic has drained 46.4 percent of his attempts from deep, while Milivojevic clocks in at 46.1 percent.
 
While not at the top, Milivojeivc will still appear in the top-10 in two other categories. A career scoring average of 11.2 points per game would make Milivojevic sixth in ART U history, just ahead of Chris Salas's 10.9 per game (2015-17) but behind the 12.8 of Kendall Brown (2016-18). For single-season scoring average, Milivojevic will finish tied for third with William Overton Jr. (2013-14) at 17.4 points per game.
 
Finding himself in second place for rebounds in a career is Ruiz de Carranza, as his total of 372 rebounds trails only Hunter Hayden's 612 (2008-12) in ART U history. Ruiz de Carranza is second to none in career rebounding average, as he is tops on the list with an average of 6.6 rebounds per game for his career (minimum 30 games played). He also appears on the single-season rebounding leaders list, as his 191 this season would be third-highest. He already appears on that list, having pulled down 181 boards last year, which is now the fourth-best mark for a single season. 

DUELING WITH THE SWORDS
The Silverswords jumped up to the No. 3 spot in the PacWest by winning four of their last six, including their final two games of the season over Hawai'i Pacific and UH Hilo. CUH pulled off a signature win this season in beating the then No. 16 PLNU Sea Lions on the road, 80-70. Chaminade boasts the second-best offense in the PacWest, led by Tyler Cartaino who is averaging a PacWest best 20.8 points per game. Kendall Small is also chipping in an average of 14.0 points per game while adding 4.8 assists per game, which is the second-best average in the conference. Small is also the leading rebounder at 6.0 rebounds per game. Chaminade leads the all-time matchup with ART U 18-3, and the two teams have never met in the postseason. 

SECOND SEED SEA LIONS
Should the Urban Knights advance, they would face off against the No. 2 seed Sea Lions, who won their final five games of the year after a short three-game losing streak. PLNU was ranked nationally during the season, having won nine straight games from Jan. 4 until Feb. 1. PLNU ranks third in the PacWest in offense while second in defense, as they own the third best scoring margin at +9.5 (just behind Chaminade at +10.1). Kaden Anderson is the leading scorer with 15.8 points per game, seventh in the PacWest, while Sterling Somers is just behind him at 13.1 points per game. Anderson is also the leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per game, sixth in the conference, and Darnell Robateau pulls down 6.9 rebounds per game and leads the team with 5.0 assists per game, the best mark in the conference.

LOOKING AHEAD
The PacWest Championship game will be this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. should the Urban Knights advance through the first two rounds. You can find all of the information for the PacWest Conference postseason tournament here.