Box Score

San Diego, CA – ART U Men's Basketball made its first appearance at the site of this year's PacWest Tournament in San Diego on Saturday evening to take on the Sea Lions of Point Loma Nazarene University, but despite some second half heroics, there would be no comeback for the Urban Knights in an 83-73 loss.

Point Loma rode eight straight points from Marek Klassen to take an 8-2 lead in the opening three minutes, but Rodrigo Maza and Alex Carmon got two quick buckets on the ensuing possessions – off successive rebounds from Aaron Aikman - to close the gap to two with 16:32 to go.

Eight first half points from Alex Carmon kept the Knights within five but an 18-13 deficit quickly turned into a 28-14 advantage for Point Loma as the Sea Lions' Mike Planeta added four to help the home squad. The teams traded jumpers on the next two possessions before the Knights found some luck at the line. Maza and Garland Vinson added four straight points off free throws for a 32-20 PLNU lead with 4:23 left in the first.

Alexis Moore exploded for five of his seven first half points in just under the final minute and a half, but the Sea Lions took consecutive layups for a 40-27 lead going into the locker rooms.

Carmon's 13-point second half began as he poured in a layup off a rebound to make it 42-29 PLNU just over a minute into the period.  A three from Klassen regained the lead, but Carmon dished one of his seven second-half rebounds to Maza to cut the lead to 47-35 with 15:30 to play.

Carmon's three points off a foul cut the lead to 10 points, and the teams traded scores – including consecutive Knights threes – to make it a 52-45 game with 10:55 to play. ART U, who outshot their opponents by four in the second, rode a 6-for-8 mark from three-point range to make it interesting as time wound down.

The Knights would get no closer than five points, cutting the deficit to 70-65 off a layup from Sergio Valdeolmillos with 4:53 left in the game. Point Loma rode a 13-of-19 mark from the line in the second for the 83-73 victory.

The Knights featured two players with 20-point games, including Carmon (21) and Moore (22). Maza had 10 points and six rebounds. Point Loma had three players in double figures, including 19 from Klassen.

ARTU drops to 4-16 on the year and 2-11 in PacWest play. They return home to Kezar to play Notre Dame de Namur next Saturday, Feb. 8 for a 2:00pm tipoff.