SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – In their first game of the season, Academy of Art men's basketball went out to an early 5-0 lead, but strong first half shooting by San Francisco State gave them a lead at the half which they held until the final whistle in Friday night's opener inside the Conlan Recreation Center.
"Tonight we played a very tough San Francisco State team," said head coach
Scott Waterman. "We will learn from tonight that you have to play an entire 40 minutes of team basketball."
The first points of the 2019-2020 season were claimed by junior guard
Kai Tease on a jumper. After a stop on defense, senior forward
Tim Graham hit a 3-pointer to give the Urban Knights a 5-0 lead. The Gators retaliated and tied the game at five, but Graham came back and hit another 3-pointer to put ART U back up 8-5.
Halfway through the first half SFSU took their first lead of the night 17-15, but it was short lived as Tease sank his first 3-pointer of the season to reclaim the lead. Strong final minutes from the Gators, including a 3-pointer with eight seconds left sent SFSU into the half with a 40-29 lead. ART U ended the first half with a sterling 54.5 shooting percentage from 3-point range, while the Gators shot 53.9 from beyond the arc.
ART U cut the lead to 11 on multiple occasions in the second half, first on Graham's fourth 3-pointer of the night, and a few possessions later, on redshirt junior forward
Luka Radovic's first career 3-pointer. Radovic ended the game with 11 points and four rebounds while Graham led the scoring with 12 points while also collecting five rebounds and two assists. Ultimately, the Gators kept momentum in the second half and never surrendered the lead for a 78-63 victory.
"We had success getting the ball to the paint and did a good job of winning the rebounding battle, but struggled shooting," said Waterman. "The great thing is we do not have time to feel sorry for ourselves as we get to bounce back tomorrow."
Academy of Art will close out the PacWest/CCAA Challenge tomorrow against Sonoma State with tip-off set for 5 p.m.
