AZUSA, Calif. – Thursday night's PacWest opener was an epic tale of two halves which saw a career-first double-double for senior guard Kendall Brown and a 14-point Urban Knights lead. However, Azusa Pacific roared from behind in the second period, using a 19-4 run to take the lead for good, handing ART U their first conference loss of the season by the score of 74-57.
 
Academy of Art started off Thursday night's contest with a dominant first half. After a back-and-forth opening eight minutes, the Urban Knights found themselves trailing by four points (14-10). However, it was at this point that Brown came alive: the Corona, Calif. native took back the lead single-handedly with five-straight points. His run started with a quick jumper at the 12:01 mark which he followed-up by a steal. From there, he knocked down a layup on the fast-break and was fouled on the shot. He eventually turned it into a 3-point play with a made free throw, giving ART U a 15-14 advantage.
 
From there, the Urban Knights eventually took a 10-point lead, their biggest advantage of the half with 44 seconds remaining. The Knights' defense was on display throughout the opening 20 minutes as well, as they held the Cougars to a 30.4 field goal percentage and forced an impressive, 11 turnovers. And with six steals in the first half, they had already generated their third-highest mark in an entire game after just one half had been played. Brown was a catalyst in the opening period, nearly posting a double-double with game-highs in points (eight) and rebounds (seven).
 
Brown continued to stay hot to open the second half, knocking down his first 3-pointer of the contest just 16 seconds into the period. The Urban Knights built themselves a 14-point, 39-25 lead with 18 minutes remaining while their defense continued to look airtight: stretching between the first and second halves, ART U forced Azusa Pacific into a seven-minute field goal drought. However, that stretch ended at the 16:52 mark when the Cougars' Corey Langerveld landed a triple.
 
It was that 3-pointer which sparked APU's offense: Azusa Pacific began to push the pace, against which the Urban Knights could not contend. The Cougars went on a 19-4 run which gave them a 3-point lead with 10:23 to play. ART U kept things within five points over the next four and a half minutes, but the Knights' offense went cold. This allowed APU to build a 17-point lead and Academy of Art fell 74-57.
 
Brown was a catalyst throughout the game for ART U, eventually posting a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Communications and Media Technologies major also contributed three steals which matched a career-best. However, it was junior guard Cobe Williams who led all Urban Knights scorers with a season-high, 14 points. His 14 points also matched a career-high set in his freshman season on February 20, 2016 against Dominican.

"Although I'm disappointed in the result, I saw plenty of positive things that we can and will build on moving forward," said head coach Julius Barnes. "The guys came out and played a great first half. They were flying around defensively, did a great job of limiting APU's second chance opportunities, and displayed great patience when attacking their zone."
 
Now with an overall record of 1-6 and an 0-1 conference mark, ART U will head to St. George, Utah to face Dixie State on December 2. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. MT.