San Francisco, CA -- The Urban Knights have played in a lot of close games this season, but their game Thursday night against Cal Baptist was especially hard to take, as they fell to the Lancers 74-72 in overtime. Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. hit two free throws in the final seconds to send the game to overtime, and Noah Koné-Nelson led the team with 17 points, but his last-second jumper fell just short as time expired.

The Knights battled back from an 11-point deficit at halftime, using a 10-0 run to take a 43-42 lead at the 12-minute mark in the second half. It was a see-saw battle the rest of the way, and although CBU pushed the lead to nine with three minutes to go, Academy of Art capitalized on several key fouls. Koné-Nelson's pair of free throws brought the Knights within seven and then a deep three from Ameer Shamsud-din cut the deficit to two, 65-63, with under a minute to play.

"I think it's a double-edged sword," said head coach Mark Sembrowich. "I think it's great that we battled back, but we're still figuring out how to put together that kind of a fight for forty minutes. You have to do that to win basketball games, especially when your opponent is willing to do that." 

The Urban Knights lived at the free-throw line, as Aaron Anderson's two free throws made it a 66-65 game with 18 seconds to go. After a crazy sequence that saw the Lancers make one from the line, then send Prema, Jr. to the stripe to tie the game, the Lancers turned it over again with under five seconds to play, but ART U couldn't get close on the half court buzzer beater and the game went to OT.

"I'm not surprised that either one of them made those shots," Sembrowich said. "Both those kids shoot free throws real well, and I was already thinking about the next play. I'm glad they hit them, but I'm really not surprised."

The extra period was equally as exciting, as Cal Baptist held a four-point lead with 1:07 to go. Prema, Jr. went to the line once more and cut it to 74-72, and then Koné-Nelson had a monster block on Luke Evans at the other end. After the timeout, the Urban Knights got it to their leading scorer on the baseline, but his final shot was off the mark, and the first-place Lancers escaped from San Francisco with a victory.

"I think that the league is very balanced," said Sembrowich. "The separation between the top and the bottom is only two points. I think it's going to be very competitive. It's not going to be a blowout. Cal Baptist is a good team, and they did a nice job. I thought our guys battled really hard."

Hunter Hayden gave the Knights a boost off the bench, notching a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards in only 19 minutes. William Overton, Jr. also had another double-digit night in scoring, putting up 16 points and six rebounds while playing 37 minutes. Ameer Shamsud-din, who put up 28 points on Tuesday, had nine points.

"Hunter really asserted himself out there tonight," Sembrowich said. "He just let it flow tonight. He really got into the game, and I think when it came to him, he didn't stop to think, he just let it happen, and with 13 and 10, it really helped us out."

The Urban Knights out-rebounded the Lancers 30 to 27, and had more assists and more free throws. They also outscored Cal Baptist 42 to 31 in the second half to tie the game, putting together another half with over 40 points, and breaking the 70-point barrier for the sixth time this season.