Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Hailey Archambault & Rob Garcia)

Belmont, CA -- After two narrow defeats last year against Notre Dame de Namur, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team roared into Belmont with their high-powered offense with the intention of knocking off their conference opponents in the first game of the PacWest season. But despite the Urban Knights cutting the difference to a one-point margin three times in the last five minutes, the Argonauts scored the last six points of the game to pull away in the final minute and send the Knights home with a tough 76-68 loss.

"The guys came out and battled tonight," said head coach Julius Barnes. "Alex, Czar and Ameer shot the ball well tonight and we got some good looks due to dribble penetration.  Unfortunately, we didn't make key plays down the stretch that would've given us an opportunity to walk away with a win."

The Knights (1-5, 0-1 PWC) improved on many accounts from the games leading up to the first conference clash of the season, but it wasn't all apparent in the first half. The Knights took an early lead but the Argonauts went on a 7-0 to take a lead at the 12:34 mark in the first half that they never gave up. ART U was forced to play catch-up for the rest of the opening period, but behind a balanced attack and by spreading the scoring were only down seven at the half.

The Knights, who were averaging 70.0 points a game heading into Saturday night's contest, were slowed down by the pace of the Argos (1-6, 1-0 PWC) in the first half, making 44 percent of their shots but only scoring the 28 points and only attempting three shots from beyond the arc. They also missed six free-throws, going 3-for-9 from the charity stripe.

That was all they would miss from the line, though, as Academy of Art came out as they have all season with a strong second half. Unfortunately it was matched blow-for-blow by the Argonauts. The Urban Knights battled back into the game, with Ameer Shamsud-din scoring two of his 17 points at the 13:03 mark to make it a three-point contest at 45-42. But NDNU countered with back-to-back buckets to push the lead to eight.

ART U made it a one-possession game again at 59-56 on a layup by Alex Carmon for two of his 20 points with 5:42 to go, and then cut the lead to one point when Shamsud-din found Akil Johnson for a bucket at 4:57. The two teams traded buckets again, with Shamsud-din's layup making 65-64 with 2:30 on the clock, but a big triple from NDNU's Simon Enciso made it a four-point margin. With under a minute to play, the Argonauts shut down the Knights. Carmon made a bucket with 31 seconds left to make it 70-68, but Wesley White had four free-throws and two big rebounds in the final half-minute to seal the deal.


"We'll watch film and learn from our mistakes," said Barnes. "A rebound here, a stop there and I'd say it's a completely different ball game. However, you've got to give credit to Notre Dame for making plays down the stretch."

One thing the Knights did improve on was their game from the line. Shooting below their historical norm from the free-throw line, the Knights top three scorers were all perfect from the line as the Urban Knights were 13-for-13 in the second half. Alex Carmon had his first 20-point game of his career, while Robotham poured in 18 points and Shamsud-din had 17 points and five assists. They also had a season-low of 11 turnovers.

"I'm pleased that our guys shot well from the line in the second half," said Barnes. "For us to get better, we've got to be able to execute on both ends of the floor down the stretch. While this was a tough loss, I'm confident that we'll learn from this experience and continue to improve and get better."

The Knights will have another chance against the Argos later on this year, but will head home for their second home match of the year against Holy Names on December 8th at Kezar Pavilion.