SAN FRANCISCO – With a back-and-forth contest against Vanguard on Thursday night, Academy of Art men's basketball got it done with a 79-67 final score as they took off in the second half with 53 points scored highlighted by new career-high in scoring for senior guard Rodney Munson.

"Tonight was a great win to start conference play against a tough and well-coached Vanguard team," said Head Coach Scott Waterman. "After starting the first half slow, we played ART U basketball in the second half as we put up 53 points and shot 58 percent. It was a team victory as we stayed together through adversity and now look forward to Saturday."

In a first half that saw lower scoring than usual for each side, both Vanguard and ART U were battling with only two points separating the teams eight minutes into the Pacific West Conference contest, and neither managed to fully pull away from one another up until around two minutes left. With the game knotted up throughout almost the entirety of the opening frame, the Lions' final push and offensive explosion in the closing minutes gave themselves a double-digit lead at 36-26 as the two teams entered the break. A 17-3 run for the Lions down the stretch is what earned them a 10-point advantage, while Bryson Metz led the way. Munson had eight of his points in the first 20 minutes for ART U with senior forward Isaiah Williams contributing five rebounds and three steals.

Wasting no time were the Urban Knights as they started off the second half on an 11-2 run of their own with each basket scored from either redshirt junior guard Donovan Vickers or Munson. Senior forward Quintin Metcalf followed up the scoring run with three points, and a three-pointer from Munson put Academy of Art over the hump to gain the lead. ART U proceeded to then trade the lead back-and-forth with the Lions, but once the Knights grabbed the advantage again with just over 10 minutes to go, they never looked back.

Redshirt junior forward Peter-Kaci Gwananji and junior forward Robbie Armbrester began the new run by trading baskets, and the ART U starting five took off from there. The Knights' lead would get up to as many as 12 points, and the contest would conclude with the final score set at 79-67.

Munson's career-high 26 points led the Knights in scoring, while Vickers (14) and Williams (12) followed in the double-digits. Metcalf scored nine of his own with the team-lead in rebounds (nine) with Armbrester right behind with a similar stat line of eight points and eight boards. Defensively, ART U held their own as they collected 13 steals and five blocks to boost them to their triumph, increasing their record to 5-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play while dealing Vanguard its first loss in six games to start the year. 

The Knights will be right back at it this Saturday, as they'll take on the Point Loma Sea Lions at Kezar Pavilion beginning at 3:30 p.m.