Box Score

San Francisco, Calif. (1/2/09) -- Academy of Art University achieved its historic first victory of the season, 78-62, over American Sports University at Kezar Pavilion on Friday night. A 14-point first half Urban Knights lead was challenged by the Eagles in the second period, but AAU prevailed as four players reached double figures in scoring. Sophomore guard Phillip Samuel paced the team with a career-high 19 points, freshman forward Josiah Jungsten followed with 15 points, sophomore point guard Weleh Dennis added 14 points and a career-high seven assists while freshman forward Hunter Hayden contributed 10 points as well as a team-high eight rebounds.

The Knights shot a scintillating 59.3% (32-of-54) from the field in the game and shared the ball throughout to out-assist the Eagles 22-4. Freshman point guard Marqus Crawford doubled his previous career-high in the category, finishing with eight dishes.

A hot start by Academy of Art University where all five starters cored gave the home team an 11-2 advantage with 16:42 on the clock. Shooting an incredible 64.3% from the floor in the first half, the Urban Knights steadily grew their lead to as many as 23 points. A three-minute scoring drought allowed the Eagles to get back into the game as the period came to a close and a 3-pointer by the Eagles' Josh Hopkins put the score at 41-27 heading into the locker room.

Three ASU free throws and two ASU layups into the second half, the visitors were down by nine points, but AAU responded by going on a 12-4 run midway through the period. American Sports University would not give in, however, because Jules Clark continued to drain shots from beyond the three-point arc. There were two separate occasions where he knocked down a pair of treys in the course of approximately one minute.

Despite the Eagles resiliency, Dennis, Samuel and Crawford worked in unison during the final four minutes to hold on for the win. Some combination of that trio was involved in either the assist or score for 14 of the Urban Knights' final 15 points in the game.

In terms of the final statistics, Samuel had 19 points and six rebounds. Jungsten put up 15 points (7-of-11 from the field) and added a pair of steals. Dennis stuffed another stat sheet with 14 points, seven assists, four steals and four rebounds. Hayden had 10 points and eight rebounds (three on the offensive glass). Freshman forward Lorenzo Dobson finished with nine points to go with five rebounds and a blocked shot. And Crawford tallied eight points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals of his own in the victory.

For American Sports University, Clark made four 3-pointers in the game and finished with a game-high 26 points while John Ward had a strong game on the offensive glass and at the free throw line to put in 20 points and eight rebounds. Davake Ware added nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Just over 24 hours after Friday night's opening tip, the Urban Knights (1-15 overall) will play host to the Holy Names University Hawks (3-12) at Kezar Pavilion. The Hawks defeated AAU 86-67 in Oakland, CA back on December 30^th. Tip-off for the rematch is set for 7:30 PM.