GAME #18
Dixie State (11-6, 8-3 PacWest) at Academy of Art (4-13, 2-9 PacWest)
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 – 7:30 p.m. PST
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
LIVE VIDEO/STATS | LIVE AUDIO
 
GAME #19
Point Loma (13-5, 6-5 PacWest) at Academy of Art (4-13, 2-9 PacWest)
Monday, Feb. 2, 2015 – 7:30 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
LIVE VIDEO/STATS | LIVE AUDIO
 
SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time this season the Academy of Art University men's basketball team will get the opportunity to play teams for the second time on their own home floor. The Urban Knights will host Pacific West Conference opponents Dixie State and Point Loma in rematches to close out their five-game home stand.
 
Dixie State (11-6, 8-3 PacWest) visits Kezar Pavilion Saturday night and Point Loma (13-5, 6-5 PacWest) comes to The City on Monday. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m. The Red Storm and Sea Lions are currently among the PacWest's top-six teams and aiming for a spot in the PacWest Championship Tournament in March. Academy of Art (4-13, 2-9 PacWest) is four games behind PLNU for the sixth and final tournament spot with nine to play.
 
ABOUT DIXIE STATE
The Red Storm (11-6, 8-3 PacWest) mowed through three straight nationally ranked PacWest opponents to get back into the thick of the conference race, winning all three games by single digits. No. 17 Azusa Pacific put a stop to that run last week with a 72-69 victory, but DSU's statement was made. It has won seven of its last nine games, including a 93-70 win over ART U on New Year's Eve in St. George, Utah.
 
Zach Robbins continues to be the team's all-around performer, ranking sixth in the PacWest in scoring (16.2 points per game) and third in rebounding (8.2 rebounds per game). Dixie State is among the conference's top-five teams in both scoring offense (5th, 77.0 ppg) and scoring defense (4th, 70.8 ppg). The Red Storm is also the conference's second-best rebounding team at 39.7 rpg and ranked 31st in the country with 27.29 defensive boards per contest.
 
ABOUT POINT LOMA
The Sea Lions (13-5, 6-5 PacWest) have lost three games in a row – all to nationally ranked Cal Baptist (twice) and Azusa Pacific – after running off a seven-game winning streak and a 13-2 start to the season. The lull has dropped PLNU to the sixth and final spot for the conference tournament at season's end, one game ahead of Dominican University of California and University of Hawaii at Hilo.
 
Point Loma still finds itself among the conference's best statistically, regardless of standings. The Sea Lions are in the PacWest's top-five in 3-point shooting (1st, 43.0 percent), scoring defense (2nd, 64.0 ppg allowed), free-throw percentage (t-2nd, 74.9 percent), assist/turnover ratio (3rd, +1.17), field goal percentage (4th, 47.9 percent), rebounding defense (4th, 31.4 rpg allowed), 3-point field goal defense (4th, 33.2 percent) and turnover margin (5th, +1.56).
 
BLOCKING INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
By rejecting Jordan Stone's last-second shot in the first half Saturday versus No. 21 BYU-Hawaii, junior center Trent Stokes set a new ART U men's basketball single-season record for blocks. Stokes recorded his 32nd block of the season to set the new mark, breaking Rodrigo Maza's former record of 31 set in the 2012-13 season. He would turn away another shot in the second half for his 33rd block, putting him one rejection behind fifth place on the ART U career record list.
 
BUZZER BEATER FOR A FIRST
This time, it wasn't going to be the Urban Knights left as the team stunned. Junior forward Nick Cary took one dribble on the right side and lofted a shot from 23 feet away, and as the buzzer sounded and the red lights lit up, the ball went through the net, giving ART U a thrilling 76-73 PacWest victory over Chaminade on Jan. 19 at Kezar Pavilion. Just seconds earlier, Chaminade's James Harper hit a game-tying 3-pointer from his own right wing to make it 73-73 with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Urban Knights and gave them their first-ever win as a program over Chaminade.