HONOLULU – A game-winning shot and near perfect free throw shooting by Academy of Art men's basketball boosted the Urban Knights over Hawaii Pacific in a Pacific West Conference rematch with 23 lead changes that resulted in a 83-82 victory for ART U.

"Tonight was an example of our team's resilience," said Head Coach Scott Waterman. "We didn't play our trademark game, but still came away with a victory. We had some great individual performances and I am really proud of how our team never quit, even down six with four minutes to go. We will learn from this game and move on to another tough road game on Saturday against Chaminade."

With the first half only containing six lead changes, ART U led the opening frame for 13 more minutes than the Sharks, and contained the lead as the game reached the half. In the first, consistent scoring from junior forward Jamal Fuller, senior forward Latrell Williams, and junior guard Treylon Payne maintained the Knights' narrow margin while the squad finished 9-for-9 from the free throw line. 

The second half followed up to be an even tighter frame, with 17 lead changes total and seven coming in the final three minutes with five different Knights scoring in that time frame. Fuller knocked down what would be the eventual game-winning triple with less than 20 seconds remaining, as he finished the contest with a team-high 24 points. HPU would have a chance to tie the game up on a free throw with two seconds left, but the shot wouldn't go and the Knights would take the game in regulation.

As ART U improves to third place in the PacWest standings with a 9-5 overall record while being 5-2 in conference play, Latrell Williams played the most minutes on the squad (35), recording his 19th career double-double as he put up 18 points and 12 rebounds. With 13 second-half points, junior forward Quintin Metcalf erupted as he scored his new season-high in points (17) for the third consecutive contest while Payne finished with a season-high in points as well (13). 

While the Knights had scoring come from all over, the Sharks, now 8-5 overall and 3-2 in PacWest action, had the game's leading scorer in Charlie Weber, who ended the game with 27 points on 12-for-14 shooting from the field while teammate Melo Sanchez added 19 of his own. 

Academy of Art now turns to Chaminade for their second contest of the Hawaii trip, taking place on Saturday, Jan. 13 at McCabe Gymnasium with a tip-off at 3 p.m. HT (5 p.m. PT).