Box Score
San Francisco, CA -- In a game that had the Academy of Art University men's basketball team enjoying a healthy lead midway through the second half, the end result came down to the wire, as the Urban Knights needed all of that cushion and then some to finally put away visiting Simon Fraser in a hard-fought 71-68 win. The Knights stayed undefeated at home, winning their third in a row at Kezar Pavilion behind 18 points from Ameer Shamsud-din and some clutch shooting by the whole team down the stretch on Wednesday night.

"Basketball is a game of runs. We got out and held a fairly decent lead for most o the game and then they made a run and they ended up going up by one with a few minutes left on the clock," said head coach Julius Barnes. "But our guys kept our composure, and that's a big step in the right direction in terms of being able to win a close game like that, especially when you've been in control for most of the game."

The Urban Knights jumped out to a lead early on in the game, taking a 10-4 lead after Rodrigo Maza made both free throws after a drive. Simon Fraser threatened a couple times in the first half but couldn't catch back up, as ART U stretched the lead to eight on a bucket from Aaron Aikman at 8:40 and again on a pair from the line from Aaron Anderson with 7:47 on the clock. The Clan cut it to one point at 25-24 with just over five minutes to go, but the Knights closed out the half strong, finishing the period on an 11-4 run punctuated by a deep three-pointer from Shamsud-din to go into the locker room up 36-28.

Academy of Art wasted no time getting it going in the second half, with Bryan Fisher making a layup to get the lead to double figures. That lead expanded to 15 on a three-point play by Shamsud-din with 17:35 to go in the game, and again on another layup from Fisher at 16:20. That's when Simon Fraser started to mount their comeback.

After a couple turnovers by the Knights that the Clan converted into points, the lead was back to single digits. right at the ten-minute mark. Dillon Hamilton hit back-to-back three-pointers that put SFU within four points, and just over a minute later Anto Olah made a pair of free-throws to tie the game at 58-58 with 8:24 on the clock. The score was tied up again at 62-62 with 5:48 to play on a tip-in by Olah, and then a three-pointer from Matt Staudacher actually gave the Clan a momentary lead at 66-62.

Fisher came up big again down the stretch, grabbing a defensive rebound at just under four minutes and drawing a foul. He sunk both free-throws to tie the game for a fourth time at 66-66 with 3:37 to go, and Shamsud-din took the lead for the Knights again on the next possession. The Knights started to bang around inside a bit with the Clan, especially senior forward Milos Milosevic.

ART U sent Milosevic to the line twice in the final three minutes, with the SFU leading scorer splitting the free throws both times. Both times he put his team within one point, but the Knights answered at their own free throw line to seal the game. Fisher split free throws at 2:05 to make it 69-67, and then Ivan "B.J." Prema, Jr. had a big defensive rebound and made his first from the line to make it 70-68.

Prema missed his second free throw, but Fisher picked Milosevic's pocket with a huge steal to put the ball back in Urban Knights hands. Fisher went to the line again, making the first but missing the second to keep it a one possession game at 71-68 with only 17 seconds to go. The Clan had one last chance, but missed two three-pointers that could have tied the game, and the Knights came up with the win.

"Credit Simon Fraser for sticking around. They hit some shots down at the end and made a game of it," said Barnes. "I thought we were in control for the most part of the game, but again, we had to get some key stops down at the end. We were fortunate enough for Bryan to make a heads-up play and get the steal, and that basically gave us time to run some more clock and get fouled."

Shamsud-din finished the game with 18 points and five rebounds, including a 5-for-5 performance from the line. Fisher added 15 points and three boards, Alex Carmon had 11 points and six rebounds, and Aaron Anderson chipped in nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. Anderson also drew the tall task of defending SFU guard Matt Raivio, who had come into tonight's game averaging 9.4 points per game and shooting 46 percent from the field.

"Aaron [Anderson] doesn't necessarily show up on the stat sheet aside from the seven rebounds, but he did some things that don't show up on the stat sheet," said Barnes. "He was able to pressure Raivio and not let him get comfortable, and that's huge for us. When we can get pressure on the defensive end like Aaron was able to do tonight that really helps us, and it helps us get out in transition and out on the break which is where I think we're at our best. "

"I was talking to coach earlier, and he was telling me to take it as an honor that I was chosen to guard a pretty good player, and so I came out and defended," said Anderson. "I don't want to back down from a challenge, and I think tonight I took that challenge head on and I think I did a good job."

For the Urban Knights, it was a fitting end to the calendar year, as they finish the non-conference schedule undefeated on their home floor. Their season will resume the first week of January when they fly to Hawai'i to take on Hawai'i Pacific, BYU Hawai'i, and Chaminade.