Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Rob Garcia)
Laie, HI -- Urban Knights men's basketball got a glimpse of the lead after a 22-5 surge bridging the first and second halves, but then a late push by the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders denied ART U its first win of the road trip, winning 76-56 inside their own Cannon Activities Center on Saturday night. Key baskets by BYUH combined with a hard-luck shooting night for Academy of Art resulted in the loss though sophomore
William Overton, Jr. had his second double-double of the year, notching 15 points and 13 rebounds.
"Again we showed that we can play, but we're still only doing it in spurts and we're working on being able to do that consistently for the whole game. It's a work in progress," head coach Mark Sembrowich said. "We haven't exactly got our arms around the 40 minutes and we're going to keep working to get there. We are going to keep pushing and doing our best."
Though BYUH scored first, ART U responded with a concentrated 9-2 burst which junior guard Ameer Shamsud-din capped with a 3-pointer. Jet Chang and the Seasiders proceeded to retake the lead with a 10-2 run before the teams were jockeying for position midway through the period. After being tied 15-15, freshman guard Aaron Anderson nailed a jumper to put the Knights ahead, but BYU-Hawaii then rattled off 11 unanswered points to go up by 10 with 4:41 to go.
The lead did not phase the Urban Knights as Shamsud-din buried two triples as well as a buzzer-beating jumper at the half's end to contribute to an 11-3 ART U push which resulted in merely a three-point halftime advantage for the Seasiders (32-29).
Overton, who had 10 rebounds in the first half alone, made back-to-back jumpers with 16:22 left in the second half to give the Urban Knights their biggest lead of the game at 40-34 and finish off what was an impressive 22-5 run over the course of the end of the first period and the beginning of the second. Sophomore center Noah Koné-Nelson, sophomore point guard Czar Robotham, and junior guard Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. all made contributions as well. However, the Seasiders went on a 13-1 run to recapture the lead and never looked back. The Knights managed three field goals in the final 10 minutes as they couldn't get in a rhythm late against host BYU-Hawaii.
Both Shamsud-din and Overton, Jr. scored 15 points apiece to lead the Knights. Senior center Hunter Hayden offered seven points and six rebounds off the bench while Robotham produced a game-high six assists, his fourth time to have six or more this season. Prema, Jr. added six points and four rebounds and Koné-Nelson reversed that with four points and six rebounds.
"[Ameer and Will] are among the PacWest scoring leaders and they can both get the ball in the hole so they've shown their capable," Coach Sembrowich said. "Again, like the rest of our team, they had moments and I think it shows that our good minutes will allow us to play against the very best that our league has to offer. It's back to the consistency."
The Urban Knights contained Seasiders star Jet Chang, only allowing the shooter 12 points on 33% of his attempts. Bracken Funk took charge for the home team, however, as he led all scorers with 18 points and eight rebounds. Okesene Ale, who put up a double-double with 16 points and 15 boards, had several energizing baskets for BYUH to shift the momentum.
"I think any time you play at BYU-Hawaii, you're going to have to be prepared," Coach Sembrowich said. "They play well on their home court, they're well-coached, and they have good players. Obviously their student body was getting behind them quite a bit so they've made their home court a tough place to play and that's something we aspire to do as well."
Academy of Art will have one more chance to get a win on the islands, as they'll take on Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu on Monday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM HST (9:00 PM PST).
"We've just got to come ready to play," Coach Sembrowich said. "It's another good team so if we show up and can get the 40 minutes, I think we can be in really good shape."
