Box Score

San Francisco, CA – It feels good to be home.

After starting their season with four road contests, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team made its return to Kezar Pavilion in spectacular fashion Saturday night. The Urban Knights put away Menlo College 86-75 in front of the ART U faithful with a record-setting performance by William Overton, Jr. The freshman forward poured in 44 points including 19-of-23 from the foul line and five 3-pointers made.

“We want to establish that when you come to play us at home, you're going to be in for a fight and I think we did that,” Head Coach Mark Sembrowich said. “I really thought it was a good win for us. We had to withstand quite the rally at the end of the game, but we did. And we came out on top so that was great.”

Just over two minutes into the game, the Urban Knights unleashed a 9-0 run with Overton, Jr. scoring eight of those points. He started with a 3-pointer then added a layup and knocked down three free throws to help put ART U on top, 9-5. Midway through the period, aggressive defense from Overton, Jr. led to a thunderous dunk on the other end, increasing ART U's lead to eight points. He poked the ball away and quickly dribbled downcourt for a huge slam that ignited the home crowd.

The Knights' biggest lead of the half, 26-16, then came after a 7-2 burst in which freshman guard Czar Robotham put in two big layups. For the second layup, he sprinted to the basket on a breakaway for a score, and a foul to earn a potential three-point play. Though Robotham missed a free throw, the tip went out to Overton, Jr. at the top of the arc and he drained yet another triple to cap the surge.

“Czar was steady all night,” Coach Sembrowich said. “He gave us good energy and he showed that he can really get up and down the court. He has really good speed and quickness and we needed that.”

Academy of Art University would withstand Menlo's brief rally to end the first period, and took a 31-25 advantage into the halftime locker room. In the second half, junior forward Keith Davis struck quickly for the Urban Knights' first points of the period on a jumper. Two high percentage shots then came from senior forward Phillip Samuel during a stretch where ART grew its lead to 15 points.

Menlo battled to keep the margin in that range for the next few minutes before a strong 14-5 push by the Knights made the score 64-42 in favor of the home squad. Although the Oaks tried to extend the game and make another comeback, ART U took care of business at the free throw line and stayed in front. In their first home game of the season, the Urban Knights earned the 86-75 victory when all was said and done, improving their record to 2-3 overall.

Overton, Jr. finished with 44 points to now hold the new Academy of Art University scoring record. The title had been previously belonged to Weleh Dennis who had 33 points against Holy Names on Jan. 6, 2009. Of those 44 points from Overton, Jr., 19 came at the free throw line which also topped the previous school record set by Dennis in that same game. Overton, Jr. added five made 3-pointers, seven rebounds, and two steals. Along with Davis' 16 points, the tandem posted 60 points and 14 rebounds in total.

“Keith and Will are a talented pair of wings,” Coach Sembrowich said. “Tonight they combined for 60 points and that's very good. We needed all those points. Will piled some up at the free throw line at the end, but we needed all of them. I credit our team with knowing he needed to have the ball in his hands at that time so it worked out well.”

In addition to the one-two scoring punch of Overton, Jr. and Davis, ART U had major contributions from its bench. As a collective unit, the Urban Knight bench outscored Menlo 19-7 in the game, paced by eight points from Robotham. The Las Vegas, NV native dealt out a team-high four assists. Samuel added six points off the bench while senior guard Devin Williams contributed five points. With the victory, ART U improves to 2-3 overall in its 2010-11 campaign.

“There were a lot of guys who really played well today,” Coach Sembrowich said. “We had very good defense from Devin; and Czar gave us tremendous minutes off the bench.”

Leading Menlo College offensively, guard Julian Harris finished with 22 points and four rebounds. Forward Tim Tatum added the game's only double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds). In addition, 15 points and eight rebounds came from forward Nick McCullar. The Oaks are now 2-5 overall this season.

“Menlo is a very good team,” Coach Sembrowich said. “They're going to win a lot of games and their kids really play the right way. They are very talented, they know who they are, and they do what they do well.”

In the midst of a stretch where Academy of Art plays three of four games at home, the Knights will take on Cal State Monterey Bay of the CCAA on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at Kezar Pavilion. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.