FRESNO, Calif. – In their highest scoring game of the season, Academy of Art had five players reach double-figures, but Fresno Pacific shot the lights out to take Thursday night's PacWest opener 97-79 inside the Special Events Center. 

"Tonight despite the result we took another step in coming together as a team," said head coach Scott Waterman. "We had five guys in double figure scoring, played unselfish, and won the turnover and rebounding battles. Winning conference road games is difficult and we have to not allow our offense to dictate our defense. You have to tip your cap to Fresno Pacific as they are playing well right now. We have no time to hang our heads as we have a long season ahead and more to improve."

Junior guard Stefan Milivojevic led ART U scorers with 21 points. Milivojevic also collected a season-high six rebounds and made 9-of-14 from the field including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. The second highest ART U scorer, junior guard Kai Tease, had an all around impressive game with 16 points, four steals, and five rebounds. Senior forward Tim Graham registered the first ART U double-double of the season with 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, and junior forward Adrian Byrd-Jelinek had by far his best game with 14 points. Rounding out the double-digit scorers was junior guard Joshua Bagley who scored 10 points and recorded six assists. 

ART U was on the board first with a layup from junior forward Josh Hill followed by a jumper from Tease for a quick 4-0 lead. The Sunbirds tied the game 4-4 but the Knights reclaimed the lead on a pair of Tease free throws. FPU took their first lead with a 3-pointer, but it was short lived as Milivojevic scored on a layup before Graham hit a deep ball for an 11-7 ART U advantage. 

The Urban Knights maintained the lead while fending off a few tie scores and took a 24-22 lead with under eight minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Byrd-Jelinek. FPU came right back with a 3-pointer of their own for a one point lead. The very next possession Graham threw down a dunk to reclaim the lead once again. The back and forth battle that it was, the Sunbirds put themselves back on top with a pair of made free throws before a layup from Milivojevic forced another lead change. It would be the final time in the first half the Knights had the lead, as the Sunbirds went on a decent run. ART U was never more than a handful of points away though, and ended the half down just 45-39. At the end of the half the lead would have changed 11 times. A small deficit considering FPU shot 64.3 percent from the field and an outrageous 7-of-10 from 3-point range.  

Although it started with a Graham layup that cut the deficit to four, the second half was mostly all Fresno Pacific. The Sunbirds kept up their torrid shooting and separated themselves with a 17 point lead with 14:18 to play. A 7-0 run materialized for ART U a few minutes later with back-to-back jumpers from Tease and was capped off by a Bagley 3-pointer to cut the lead to nine. The Urban Knights kept it within that manageable range and were never out of it until the final two minutes. FPU extended their lead near the end and emerged with the 97-79 win. 

After falling in the PacWest opener, Academy of Art moves to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in conference. The Urban Knights will play their final non-conference game of the season on Dec. 10 against Cal State San Bernardino before returning to PacWest play to face Chaminade on Dec. 15. Both matches will take place at home at historic Kezar Pavilion.