RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Academy of Art men's basketball stood strong against second-place, California Baptist. However, the Lancers accumulated a second-half lead which was too large for the Urban Knights to surmount, forcing ART U's late comeback bid to fall short.
 
In the first half, CBU immediately jumped out to a 5-point lead, but a quick, 6-0 run gave the Urban Knights their first advantage of the game. For the next three minutes, the lead changed hands on multiple occasions, but eventually, the Lancers pulled away for good. Despite making the same number of field goals as California Baptist in the first half, it was the 3-point shooting which made the difference for ART U: the team went 0-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc while the Lancers scored in six of their 11 attempts. The disparity had the Urban Knights heading to the locker room trailing 42-30 at halftime.
 
In the second period, CBU quickly pulled out to a 22-point, 59-37 lead at the 15:32 mark. From there, ART U fought back, but the Lancers extended their lead as far as 26 points with 12:36 to play. However, the Urban Knights continued to battle and made a run that was just cut short at the end of the game: By the time the clock read 5:39 to play, Academy of Art had trimmed the deficit to 13 points (78-65). Then, junior guard Cole Morgan came up with a steal which led to a pair of made free throws from senior guard Kendall Brown. Now with just an 11-point difference, California Baptist quickly rattled off six-consecutive points to extend their lead back to 17.
 
ART U wittled the lead back down to 11 points (87-76) with 1:51 to play as their drive was capped off by a triple from junior guard Kiel Long. The Urban Knights scored six more points in the final two minutes, but their efforts were not enough to fully erase the deficit as they fell by the score of 95-82.
 
"I thought that, particularly in the second half, we did a really good job of moving the ball, attacking the basket, and knocking shots down," said head coach Julius Barnes. "Our pressure defense to start the second half definitely slowed them down a bit and had we continued that for all 40 minutes, it might have been a different ballgame."
 
Brown led Academy of Art with 22 points and three rebounds while senior guard Uchenna Okeneme recorded a season-high, 19 points along with two steals and one assist. Despite the loss, ART U shot efficiently, ending the contest with a .484 field goal percentage. The Urban Knights have now fallen to a 9-13 overall record and they are 8-8 in the PacWest. They are currently in sixth-place, but they are tied winning-percentage-wise with Concordia who is currently 7-7.
 
With only four games remaining in the season, ART U will look to make a final push to receive the program's first-ever berth into the PacWest Tournament. They will begin their campaign when they host a big game against Hawaii Pacific on February 12 at 7:30 p.m. The Sharks are also in the hunt for the sixth and final spot in the tournament as they are currently just behind Concordia with a 6-7 conference record.
 
"I'm pleased with our effort tonight," said Barnes. "These next four games are going to be important in our continued quest to make the postseason."