Fresno, CA -- Last year the Urban Knights were able to shock the Division I Aggies of UC Davis. This year against their sole Division I opponent Fresno State, the Cinderella story ended a little bit earlier. The Knights hung with the Bulldogs for a while, but in the end the home team pulled away and defeated Academy of Art, 85-55.

"That was last year," said head coach Mark Sembrowich. "This is this year. We showed growth tonight. And as a growing program we can't look backwards. This is a totally different team than last year. But I'm proud of the way we played and the way that we represented our school."

Junior guard Ameer Shamsud-din and sophomore guard William Overton, Jr. combined for 29 points and six assists, yet they were overshadowed by Fresno State's Kevin Olekaibe, who was averaging over 20 points per game coming into tonight. Olekaibe scored 25 points, and the Bulldogs (3-4) had four players in double figures to finish off the visiting Urban Knights.

"We executed tonight," Sembrowich said. "The score doesn't show how good we played. We took care of the ball and we executed our offense. When we execute, we take good shots and we don't turn the ball over, and we came out here to a big arena and played with a lot of poise."

Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. got the start for the Knights tonight as they went small against Fresno State, and scored 11 points on a 4-for-5 night. Centers Hunter Hayden and Mike Jorritsma only totaled 13 and 12 minutes, respectively, as Noah Koné-Nelson spent a majority of the game as the lone big for Academy of Art.

"This lineup gave us some more athleticism on the floor," said Coach Sembrowich. "And Prema's night isn't anything that he can't do again. We have a lot of options and he's one of them, so I'm not surprised that he had a real good night shooting."

The Knights (0-7) did a good job spreading the ball around again, notching 12 assists on their 21 baskets. They also shot over 40% from the field and from beyond the arc, going 10-for-23 from deep. They also battled a Bulldog press for a majority of the game and continued their trend of cutting down on turnovers and limiting their own mistakes.

"Tonight we showed again that we can play with a good program," Sembrowich said. "We've played a lot of good teams here in the early going, and most importantly we've continued to grow and get better every time we're out on the floor."

The Urban Knights will take on NAIA opponent Menlo College on Saturday back at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.