Box Score

San Diego, CA -- The Academy of Art University men's basketball team was down early against PacWest newcomer Point Loma Nazarene, but with 10 minutes left in the game, the Urban Knights took over control, riding clutch defense and free throws down the stretch to pull away for their fourth win in five games and their first road victory. ART U got 19 points from Alex Carmon, a double-double from Rodrigo Maza, and saw Ameer Shamsud-din recover from foul trouble to finish with 17 points against the Sea Lions in the 77-69 victory.

Point Loma jumped out to an early lead against the Knights, who at one point found themselves down by 10 midway through the first half. Then Academy of Art, who had recently set program records for margin of victory in back-to-back games, turned it on, going on a 10-0 run keyed by Mike Jorritsma, who converted a three-point play and then made a steal to set up the tying 3-pointer by Shamsud-din. That triple made it 28-28 with 6:55 left in the first half. The two teams see-sawed back and forth for the rest of the opening period, but Aaron Anderson got to the free-throw line and split the chances with 33 seconds left to give ART U  a 38-37 lead heading into the break.

"Point Loma is well coached and it was evident tonight," said head coach Julius Barnes. "They are very disciplined and do a good job of spacing the floor on offense.  We had some issues defending getting out to their shooters at times, allowing them to get open looks.  However, we were able to make some adjustments and credit our guys for making some key stops at crucial points in the game."

PLNU started off the second half on a run much like the beginning of the game, retaking the lead and making it a six-point game with 17:15 on the clock. Then Aaron Aikman converted a three-point play to put the Knights back on track, starting another stretch of trading buckets until a layup by Maza tied the game at 56-56 with 8:22 left in the game.

Shamsud-din, who got into foul trouble early and was limited in the first half, was inserted into the game late in the second half, and in crunch time he was essential to the Urban Knights winning effort. After Maza tied the game, Shamsud-din came through with a three-ball to give the Knights a 59-56 lead. The Sea Lions would come back one more time, with Taylor Wetherell making one from beyond the arc to tie and then Blair Banker making a layup to give PLNU a 63-61 advantage with 5:55 to go.

But the Urban Knights were not to be denied. Aaron Anderson contributed two of his eight points to tie the game for a seventh time at 63-63. That sparked an 8-0 run by the Knights, capped off by Shamsud-din getting a fast-break layup to make it 69-63 with 3:42 left and forcing a Sea Lions timeout. The Knights would hold that lead the rest of the way, as Maza picked up the double-double by laying it in and then grabbing a board on the other end with just over a minute to play to make it 71-65. Point Loma sent the Urban Knights to the free-throw line the rest of the way, but ART U responded as Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. made both of his and Carmon made four straight from the stripe to seal the deal. 

"When Ameer got into foul trouble, Alex [Carmon] did a solid job when asked to be our primary ball handler," said Barnes. "Ameer kept his composure and showed great leadership down the stretch. Rodrigo Maza, Aaron Aikman and Mike Jorritsma were terrific for us and they got huge rebounds for us near the end. BJ Prema and Aaron Anderson played solid defense as well. It's great when everyone has a hand in such a great win."

The Knights continued their stretch of good defense, forcing 18 turnovers and turning those takeaways into 29 points. They also dominated the paint, scoring 34 points to the Sea Lions' 22, and made their free-throws count, making 15 of 20 from the line while PLNU only managed to go 7-for-15. Wetherell had a team-high 19 points for Point Loma, while Sam Okhotin added 10 points. For the Urban Knights, their sixth win marked the most in program history with nine games still left to play. With Notre Dame de Namur's loss earlier in the night, it also means that the Knights now hold down the coveted qualifying spot in the conference tournament for the time being.

"While I'm pleased with our progress, we know that there a lot of games to be played," said Barnes. "We'll take it one game at a time and look to improve on our deficiencies.  Ultimately, our goal is to get to the conference tournament and hopefully play well enough to win it."

Academy of Art continues their three-game road trip, facing a tough California Baptist squad on Saturday before taking on Azusa Pacific on Monday night in Azusa.