LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Academy of Art men's basketball team shot 51 percent from the floor in the second half, but the comeback fell just short against Biola 75-67 in a Pacific West Conference matchup inside Chase Gymnasium.
"Tonight's game was a tale of two halves," said ART U head coach
Scott Waterman. "In the first half, we had too many turnovers and couldn't find a good rhythm. However, in the second half we played ART U basketball and that allowed us to come back and give ourselves a chance to win.That is the type of basketball we need to play for 40 minutes."
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, ART U (5-10, 3-5 PacWest) found its groove shooting and cut the lead down to 64-61 with just over three minutes left. Junior guards
Kai Tease and
Stefan Milivojevic each contributed a pair of 3-pointers over that stretch. Each finished with a game-high 20 points which was a season-best for Tease. Biola (10-5, 6-3 PacWest) would respond with a couple of buckets to jump ahead by seven before the Urban Knights needed to foul, putting the Eagles at the stripe where they would put the game away.
Twice in the early going ART U had the lead, getting the game started with a bucket from Milivojevic followed by a layup from junior guard
Joshua Bagley. The two teams would trade buckets until a pair of 7-0 runs would help the Eagles cruise into the halftime break with a 11-point lead, 31-20.
Junior forward
Josh Hill notched his second double-double of the season, pulling down 11 rebounds with 10 points, his other double-double coming
against Notre Dame de Namur on Dec. 21. Tease was on fire from deep, making a season-high 5-for-8 from long range. Bagley had four assists along with five points.
"We have another great opportunity on Monday and we can hang our heads," Waterman said.
Going 4-for-7 from beyond the arc in the game was Milivojevic, who passes Alexis Moore (105; 2013-15) for second place in career 3-point field goals in ART U history with 107. Milivojevic now trails only
Cobe Williams (2015-19), who is the all-time ART U leader with 108.
Five Eagles would score in double-digits, led by Michael Bagatourian with 16 points and Alex Wright with 15. Jesse Elrod was one rebound away from a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Wright also grabbed eight boards.
Monday afternoon will be the next time out for the Urban Knights, as they travel to San Diego to take on Point Loma on Monday at 4 p.m.
