Box Score

St. George, UT -- The Urban Knights men's basketball team has shown time and time again that they refuse to throw in the towel when behind, and Saturday night's game against Dixie State in St. George was another example of that. Ameer Shamsud-din had 22 points and three assists, and Noah Koné-Nelson added 14 points and four rebounds, but the Red Storm pulled away in the second half to remain in first place with an 83-65 victory over Academy of Art.

"Dixie's in first place for a reason," said head coach Mark Sembrowich. "When they came to San Francisco, they did a good job getting it inside. I think tonight they had to work a little harder, but Dixie can beat you in a lot of different ways."

One of those ways was guard Maurice Cole, who had 18 points at the half and finished with 22 to lead the Red Storm to victory. The Urban Knights worked hard to close the gap to five to make it 35-30 heading into the break. But Dixie went on a 12-2 run out of the locker room, and every time the Knights looked like they were making a play, the Red Storm answered.

"We needed a score and a stop to get us going in the second half, but it didn't happen that way," Sembrowich said. "We hung in there and chipped away. They weren't any big runs, they just kept getting points here and there and building up the lead."

Koné-Nelson had 10 of his 14 points in the second half, including 6-of-6 from the free throw line, something that the Urban Knights as a team did very well. The Knights shot over 80% in both halves, finishing with an 84.0% mark for the game (21-25). Koné-Nelson finished 8-for-8, and Czar Robotham (2-of-2) and William Overton, Jr. (4-of-4) were also perfect from the line.

"We worked at it," said Sembrowich. "We got better at it. You look at Hunter [Hayden], who went 3 -for-4 from the line, and he went out there in the off-season and took the time to improve. That keeps us in the game."

But even their solid effort from the free-throw line couldn't stop Dixie State from extending their lead in the second half, as they scored 48 points in the second period to close out the Knights. The Red Storm also had 19 fast-break points which helped them pull away in the second half.

"Nobody likes giving up points in transition," said Sembrowich. "They forced the issue sometimes and that had an effect. We don't mind playing an up-tempo kind of game, but I think that they got some opportunistic points that were hard to defend."

For Hayden, it was his 100th game as an Urban Knight, and he contributed with five points and seven rebounds. The senior inches closer to another milestone, the 600-600 club, and after tonight's game has 597 points and 591 rebounds. Shamsud-din also set an Urban Knights record, making four 3-pointers to give him a program-high 45 for the season, breaking the mark set by Weleh Dennis. The Knights stay on the road, facing off against Grand Canyon on Monday night.