Box Score
Photo Gallery (images by Rob Garcia)

Laie, HI -- The Academy of Art University men's basketball found themselves in a tough spot after the first half against BYU-Hawai'i, and were unable to recover against the Seasiders, who rode a hot-shooting night from their team and handed the Urban Knights a 107-70 defeat. Ameer Shamsud-din scored 19 points and Bryan Fisher flirted with a double-double for ART U in the loss.

"It's tough to win games when you allow the opposition to shoot 56% from the field and get beat on the boards," head coach Julius Barnes said. "We must improve our team defense. When we've been able to get stops and push the break, good things have happened for us."

The Seasiders set the tone early, scoring the first 11 points of the game. Academy of Art (3-8, 1-3 PWC) got back-to-back buckets, but then BYUH's Pablo Coro hit four straight three-pointers to more than double the lead from seven to 17 as his triples put the Knights down 23-6. Academy of Art was held to 40 percent shooting from the field in the first half, and only put 28 points on the board, going into the locker room at halftime in a 55-28 hole.

Academy of Art has had a reputation as a second-half team, but BYU-Hawai'i made a comeback difficult, starting the closing period on a 10-0 run to lengthen the lead. The margin was as big as 37 with just under 15 minutes to play in the second half, but then shots for the Knights finally started to fall.

With 13:44 left in the game, ART U went on a 12-0 run to make it 80-56, keyed by nine points from Shamsud-din over that span. But the Seasiders countered that with another run to put the game out of reach, keeping the margin over 20 points for the remainder of the game and finishing on a 27-14 run to stay undefeated in conference play and to keep the Urban Knights winless on the road.

Academy of Art University will have one more game on their Hawaiian trip, finishing up the island swing with a game against Chaminade on Wednesday. The Silverswords took down previously undefeated Dominican earlier in the night in Honolulu.

"We're a young team and this is never an easy road trip," Coach Barnes said. "We'll put this one behind us, learn from our mistakes, and start to prepare for Chaminade."