Box Score
San Francisco, CA -- Heading into Saturday's game against Notre Dame de Namur University, the Academy of Art University men's basketball team knew that they had to keep a lid on Simon Enciso and also convert on the offensive end. When the final horn sounded at Kezar Pavilion, not only had their defense stopped Enciso, but it stymied the whole NDNU offense, as the Urban Knights spread the wealth with five players in double figures and led from wire to wire to win the game 68-56.
The Urban Knights put the pressure on the Argonauts right away and on the first few possessions of the game NDNU was scrambling to get a shot off before the shot clock expired. On the other end, they were moving the ball around and finding the open man, who just happened to be senior
Rodrigo Maza, who scored the first six points of the game, and at the first media timeout the Knights led 6-0.
In fact, the Argos didn't get their first field goal until over five minutes had elapsed in the game. At the second media timeout, the Knights were up 13-4, and although NDNU broke out of their drought and got the game within a point twice in the first half, Academy of Art got stop after stop and held on to the lead. After
Alexis Moore hit a jumper with under a minute to play, the Knights headed into the locker room with a 30-24 lead.
The Knights started off the second half on a tear, as they lengthened the lead from eight all the way to 13 in the first four and a half minutes, capped off by a three-point play from
Alex Carmon, who came on very strong in the second half, scoring 11 points in the closing period.
Academy of Art kept the Argos at bay, as the lead stayed above double-digits for most of the second half after that. With 14:15 to play a layup from Korey Serna made it 41-32, but back-to-back layups from
Aaron Aikman and Carmon pushed it to 13 again.
Sergio Valdeolmillos came off the bench and continued his laser precision from beyond the arc, getting a layup and then burying a triple to make it 50-37. After a turnover led to a high-flying dunk by Carmon, Valdeolmillos made another three to put the Knights up by 16 with 8:29 to play.
Notre Dame de Namur continued to struggle with turnovers and shot selection because of the Knights' pressure, and when they started to trade baskets and get their offense going, it was already too late, as the Knights would stay out in front, and when it was all over they were comfortably on top for their first victory over NDNU in program history.
Carmon had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead all players in both of those categories. Moore had 15 points, seven assists, and chipped in four steals while shooting 7-for-11 from the floor, while Aikman and Valdeolmillos each added 11 points.
Rodrigo Maza had 10 points and four rebounds to become the fifth Knights player with 10+ points. Simon Enciso had 13 points but shot only 38% from the field for the Argoanuts.
ART U plays again at home on Thursday against Holy Names before traveling to the South Bay to face NDNU in Belmont next Saturday.Â
