SAN FRANCISCO – Back in the win column and ready to take on the last month of the regular season, Academy of Art men's basketball defeated Dominican on Wednesday night 75-62 as the Urban Knights took over down the stretch to separate themselves from the Penguins.

"It was great to be back in Kezar after our long road stretch," said Head Coach Scott Waterman. "There were some really good moments tonight on both ends of the floor, but I am still looking for a full 40-minute performance. I thought our transition offense was good and didn't allow the defense to get set. Our defense was solid and led to 16 turnovers. Now on to Menlo on Saturday."

Starting the contest with the lead right away, ART U's initial 6-0 advantage was just the start to maintaining the lead for 97.8 percent of the game. Although the Knights were steadily ahead of DU by single-digit points throughout the entirety of the opening frame, ART U looked to be in control as they could build it to as many as nine, but in the closing minutes of the first half the Penguins would knock it down to just one point as the game entered halftime with the Knights up 36-35. 

Playing at a high tempo in the second half, the Knights were able to build their lead to a multiple-score game for the majority of the closing 20 minutes, but Dominican would still manage to be within four points with just over seven minutes to go. After breaking down the Penguins' press defense, the home team was able to go up by 14 points in the final minutes and saw junior forward Robbie Armbrester slam down the exclamation point dunk to secure the win and improve the squad's record to 13-7 overall and 9-4 in the Pacific West Conference standings. 

Armbrester used a pair of highlight dunks to score the game-high for ART U, as he collected 18 points, his second-most points scored this season. Senior guard Rodney Munson (13), redshirt junior guard Donovan Vickers (12), and senior guard Treylon Payne (11) all joined with double-digit scoring, while Vickers added on six assists on offense with the squad collecting 10 steals as a team on defense.

The Knights will play in yet another PacWest matchup this Saturday, Feb. 8 as they'll host Menlo at Kezar Pavilion, starting at 3:30 p.m.