SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – In the second and final day of the PacWest/CCAA Challenge, Academy of Art defeated Sonoma State 64-60 behind junior guard
Kai Tease's 19 point game and strong rebounding.
"Tonight was a great team win," said head coach
Scott Waterman. "We got contributions from everyone, be it on the floor or on the bench. What was great was that we were able to put last night's performance behind us and grind a victory out. It was a test of our team character and we passed, but there is still room to grow."
Tease was on fire from beyond the arc, shooting nearly 50 percent and going 4-for-9. His 19 points are the highest individual scoring performance for ART U thus far this season. Junior guard
Joshua Bagley was not far behind, with 13 points plus seven rebounds. Both senior forward
Tim Graham and senior guard
Victor Ruiz de Carranza almost achieved the first ART U double-double of the year, with 11 points and nine rebounds and eight points and 10 rebounds respectively. Carranza's 10 rebounds led the team and contributed to ART U out-rebounding the Seawolves 44-30. Opposite of last night, the Urban Knights found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-0 run to start the game. Graham cut the run with a good jumper to get ART U on the board, but the Seawolves strung together another five points for a 10-2 lead. A Tease 3-pointer shifted momentum as ART U went on a 9-0 run with five point contributions from Graham and Tease for an 11-10 lead.
SSU fought back and put themselves on top, but once again a deep ball from Tease gave the Urban Knights a lead which they would not surrender for the remainder of the half. The largest lead came when junior forward
Josh Hill finished a layup to put ART U up 29-21. By the end of the first half Academy of Art held a 32-26 lead. Tease ended the opening period with 10 points and went 3-for-5 from 3-point range.
As the second half got underway Bagley extended the ART U lead to 39-30 on a 3-pointer with 16:49 to play. The Seawolves cut the deficit to two with 12:33 on the clock, but a 6-0 run for the Knights capped by a junior guard
Stefan Milivojevic layup gave ART U a more comfortable 47-39 lead.
Going into the final four minutes ART U led 61-50. A pair of quick SSU 3-pointers, coupled with made free throws, made it very interesting, as the Knights only led 61-58 with just 1:16 to play. A layup by Nick Klarman with :48 seconds left made it a one point game. The Seawolves fouled on the next possession sending Carranza to the line where he made his first free throw. On his second free throw, the ball bounced away and Bagley secured a crucial offense board, but a turnover gave the Seawolves possession. Sonoma State called a timeout with :21 seconds and the game came down to their final possession.
Play resumed and the clock wound down. The Seawolves looked for an opening, but the Urban Knights' defense would not budge. SSU's Isaac Davidson ended up forcing a tough shot with :05 seconds to play, but it was no good. Carranza snagged the rebound for his 10th and the game was won. He was fouled immediately after, and following a pair of made free throws, the final horn buzzed and the Urban Knights walked away with their first win of the season.
"It is great to get this first win but we have still lots of work to do before PacWest play," said Waterman. "But I am really proud of the progress we made and were able to get a win against a tough Sonoma State team."
Following the win, Academy of Art improves to 1-1 on the year. ART U will be back in action on Nov. 12 against Cal State East Bay before their second tournament, the Cal State Monterey Bay Challenge, running Nov. 15-16.
