Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Meg Williams, Sabrina Alger, & Rob Garcia)

San Francisco, CA -- Despite a second half comeback by visiting Notre Dame de Namur, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team did their seniors proud in their final home game of the year, holding on for an 83-72 victory. The Urban Knights' balanced attack saw five players score in double figures and never trailed against the Argonauts, who lost their tenth straight on Saturday afternoon.

"It was definitely an emotional day with it being Senior Day, and this being the last time the guys are going to play in Kezar, but I thought the guys came out and really did a good job keeping their composure," said head coach Julius Barnes. "I think the guys, once they got through the emotional part, were able to put that aside and focus on the game. We got off to a great start, shot the ball very well in the first half, and played really good defense to boot. I think the defense spurred the offense a little bit, and it's nice to lead from wire to wire."

The Knights won the opening tip, scored the first two buckets, and didn't look back from there. The lead grew to double digits quickly, as a 3-pointer from Alex Carmon gave ART U a 22-11 lead with 13:44 left in the first half. The Argos put together a run, but the Knights showed some heads up defense, stretching it to a 13-point lead on a steal and an emphatic dunk by freshman Bryan Fisher. Later in the half, a tip-in and two free throws by Rodrigo Maza pushed the margin to 14, and Academy of Art finished the half on a 7-0 run to hold a 53-34 advantage heading into the break.

"I think we match up with them really well," said Barnes. "We were able to run our stuff, get out on the break and do some things that spurred the energy we've been looking for the last few games. I think playing on Senior Day definitely had an effect, because the underclassmen really wanted to send the seniors out with a win."

After shooting 63% and forcing seven turnovers in the first half, the Knights had a slow start to the second half. The 7-0 run by ART U at the end of the first half was duplicated by Notre Dame in the beginning of the second, cutting to lead back down to near single digits. A jumper by sophomore Aaron Anderson pushed it back to 17, but the Argonauts would not go away, hanging around for a lot of the second and chipping away at the Urban Knights lead. A three-point play by Micah Dunhour brought the Argos within eight points with just over ten minutes to play.

NDNU was able to get it as close as six points a couple times, but the Knights beat back every advance they would make. With 9:56 left and the Argos within six, Fisher hit a big triple to push it back to nine. When a 3-pointer by Simon Enciso made it a 64-58 game with 8:01 left, Alex Carmon put in back-to-back buckets to make it ten again. Two minutes later it was Carmon again with two free throws, but the final dagger was Ameer Shamsud-din with 1:46 left to make it 78-68.

"[There were] definitely a lot of emotions going into it knowing that it was going to be my last home game playing here," said Shamsud-din. "I had fun though. The guys made sure the seniors went out there with a win and they made sure that everybody had fun. We were really good at sharing the ball and getting everybody involved, and once we do that, we're a really good team."

The Urban Knights got contributions from pretty much everyone who stepped on the floor. Fisher had a team-high 17 points and added seven rebounds and four assists. Anderson had 16 points, Maza had 12 points, while Carmon added 13 points and seven boards. For the three seniors it was a bittersweet day. Shamsud-din had nine points but a career-high seven assists. Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. had 13 points and three steals in 24 minutes, and Mike Jorritsma had three rebounds and a block in 15 minutes in their final home game.

The Knights home season is over, but they play two more games in the Bay Area, taking on Holy Names on Tuesday night before finishing the season with a big rematch against Dominican next Saturday in San Rafael.