ST. GEORGE, Utah – After a slow start, Academy of Art men's basketball came from behind to nearly erase an 18-point deficit. However, Dixie State prevailed after a tightly-contested second half, taking the game by the score of 74-62.
 
In the opening 20 minutes, Dixie State got off to a hot start. Despite junior center Cameron Niven scoring the first bucket of the game, the Trailblazers responded with a 9-point run. Niven kept the Knights in the in the game early on, scoring all six of the team's first points to keep within five. The Urban Knights never let the deficit extend beyond 10 points until just over seven minutes remained. From there, Dixie eventually extended their lead to 17 with a 33-16 advantage at the 6:13 mark and they led by 15 at the half.
 
In the second period, Dixie State continued to pull ahead, eventually amassing an 18-point lead after less than 30 seconds had expired in the half. However, ART U came alive with 14 minutes to play, bringing things back to within 12 thanks to an early nine points in the half from senior guard Kendall Brown. The Trailblazers fought back, but an eventual triple from junior guard Zuri Williams made it a 10-point game with 10:26 to play. Moments later, Williams landed two shots from the charity stripe to reduce to deficit to just eight points. Brown took over from there, bringing the score to within six after making a contested jumper at the 8:06 mark. After scoring the subsequent free throw, the Urban Knights were back in business. In fact, to that point, the Urban Knights had outshot Dixie State 22-13 in the half. Brown continued to keep Academy of Art in the game by capitalizing on multiple and-one opportunities and brought things back to within 11 points after making a jumper with 4:38 remaining. However, with the score now at 65-54, the Trailblazers began to pull away and ultimately took the contest by the score of 74-62.
 
Once again, Brown found himself as the scoring leader for both sides; this time, he scored a career-high, 23 points (6-for-10) while contributing three rebounds and one steal. The Corona, Calif. native has notched double-digit points in all eight games so far this season and is averaging 16.0 overall (tied for ninth in the PacWest). Senior guard Uchenna Okeneme scored 11 points on Saturday night along with one rebound, while junior guard Kiel Long scored nine points and notched six boards.
 
Now with a 1-7 overall record, ART U has dropped their first two conference matches. However, the Urban Knights will look to turn things around when they return to San Francisco for their 2017-18 home opener at Kezar Pavilion. That game is scheduled for December 6 against Notre Dame de Namur with a tipoff at 7:30 p.m.