SAN FRANCISCO – In a competitive battle among the top two seeds in the Pacific West Conference Tournament last season, Academy of Art men's basketball and Point Loma went wire-to-wire, but the Sea Lions snuck away in the final minutes with a 58-53 final score on Saturday afternoon inside Kezar Pavilion.

PLNU, now 9-2 overall and 2-0 in the PacWest, managed to get a lead first as they were up 9-2 to start the game, but the Urban Knights, now 5-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play, hung in with them to get within three with just over 13 minutes left in the first half. It was then where the Sea Lions built upon their advantage, as they expanded their lead to 12 to close the opening frame with the scores set at 33-21. Six members of ART U scored at least one bucket in the first half while senior forward Quintin Metcalf led the way with six points. The team looked strong as a unit down on the block as well with four different Knights collecting three rebounds apiece.

In the second half, ART U came out of the break seeking to get back into it as they cut the deficit down to four in less than eight minutes. Six straight points from senior guard Rodney Munson and baskets for redshirt junior guard Donovan Vickers and redshirt junior forward Peter-Kaci Gwananji created the scoring run, and Munson continued to facilitate his squad en route to his big 17 second half points.

Academy of Art continued to cut into PLNU's lead and get within one, but the Knights could never tie the contest up or take the lead as the game would end with its 58-53 final.

Munson all players in the game with 21 points in the close contest, and Metcalf followed up the performance with his second double-double of the season with his 10 points and 12 rebounds plus two steals. Redshirt junior guard Donovan Vickers added four steals as well.

The Paulsen brothers, led Point Loma in the game with Tyce providing 16 points and Zack scoring 12. Luke Haupt also contributed in a big way for his team, scoring nine points with his team-high seven rebounds.

ART U will be back at it for more PacWest Conference action next Friday as they'll play host to Fresno Pacific inside Kezar Pavilion on Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.