Box Score

Seattle, WA -- The Academy of Art men's basketball team had four players score in double figures, but a big first half from Mark McLaughlin and the rest of the Central Washington offense proved to be too big of a deficit to overcome as the Urban Knights fell to the Cougars 104-87. On Friday night against Seattle Pacific it was a second-half outburst that bit the Knights, but against CWU it was a 60-point first period that made the difference, despite a big game from Akil Johnson, who scored 20 points in his second game for ART U.

"I would have loved to come up here with two wins, but the experience is going to be something that we can fall back on as we move forward during the season," said head coach Julius Barnes. "The only way you can get better is to play better teams. We're a work in progress. I'm encouraged by the fact that we came out in the second half and played more our style of basketball, but like I said before, we've got to be ready to play a full 40 minutes."

For the Knights, the trouble started early, as the Cougars began the game going up 12-2 after a triple by Chris Holmes. Academy of Art started to battle back, cutting the lead to eight after a three from Czar Robotham made it 18-10, but then Central Washington put CWU up 42-16 with 8:28 to go in the first half. The Knights started to pick up the offensive pace from there, outscoring the Cougars for the 19-18 for the rest of the half and getting some free throws before the break to keep the lead at 60-35 at halftime. Robotham had 11 at the half for ART U, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.  McLaughlin had 18 at the break for Central Washington.

"Right now part of my job as a head coach is to make sure these guys are ready to play," said Barnes. "I need to do a better job of that, but I think we can use this as a learning experience. We're going to learn to play every time we set foot on the court. It can't just be a sometimes thing."

Out of halftime, the Knights played a lot better, but still had a lot of ground to make up. A three by freshman Bryan Fisher cut the lead to 16 points with 13:40 to go at 70-54, but the Cougars kept ART U at an arm's length down the stretch. Johnson came up big in the second half with 18 points in the closing period, including a layup at 4:32 that brought the Knights within 12, but that was as close as they got, using another jumper by Robotham to make it a 12-point deficit again at 2:28 but eventually falling 104-87.

"He's still finding his rhythm. He hasn't played in two years," said Barnes. "What makes him so good is that he's a smart player. He knows how to use his body and he's got some touch around the basket. His explosiveness will come as he starts to get more confidence in his abilities, but he's still developing."

Robotham had 22 points and five assists for the Knights to go with Johnson's 20, while Ameer Shamsud-din (15 pts) and Fisher (11 pts) also broke into double figures. The two teams were just about even on points in the paint and the Knights also eliminated more than half of their turnovers from Friday night. ART U outscored the Cougars 52-44 in the second half, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome in the Knights second game of the season.

"It's nice to have a bunch of guys that can step up on any given night and put the ball in the basket, but the big thing is that we've got to be able to defend," said Barnes. "It does us no good to come down and score if we can't keep the other team from scoring. We've got to pick it up on the defensive end and that's what the focus will be on this week in practice before East Bay on Saturday."

The Knights will come home to the Bay Area and play their home opener on Saturday against Cal State East Bay as part of the Urban Knights Tipoff Weekend.