SAN FRANCISCO – The Academy of Art men's basketball team used the momentum of a late first half run to notch a Pacific West Conference win over Fresno Pacific on Thursday, 74-65. 
 
"I think tonight was a tremendous win for our team," said ART U head coach Scott Waterman. "When we played them literally two months ago to the day and they beat us by 18 down in Fresno, and I challenged our guys.  We had to have a sense of pride when we came out tonight, and they stepped up and met the challenge completely. It was an incredible team effort, and that's what we've been building for this entire year."
 
The win helps the Urban Knights (8-14, 6-9 PacWest) keep pace in the race for the PacWest tournament, as ART U remains in ninth place but is just one game out of sixth. While the two teams traded buckets to begin the game, the Urban Knights slowly took control of the game with a nine-point lead. Climbing back into the game to regain the lead with five minutes to go was Fresno Pacific (7-15, 5-11 PacWest), jumping in front 21-20 on a Raine Mckeython 3-pointer. 
 
That's when ART U had its best stretch of the half and closed out play on a 10-0 run thanks to buckets from four different Urban Knights, turning a one-point deficit into a nine-point lead heading into the break, 30-21. The good finish led to a hot shooting second half, ART U shot 47.1 percent from the floor on shots from primarily in the paint to stay in control and cruise to the victory. With only five and a half minutes in the game it was a 20-point lead for the Urban Knights, but the Sunbirds continued to fight hard until the end and get the game back to single digits at 74-65. 

 
While defenses were playing tough in the first half, junior guard Stefan Milivojevic found room to work, accounting for nearly half of the Urban Knights points with 14. He would go on to finish with a team-high 24 points, including a pair of buckets from beyond the arc.  Keeping up his stretch of double-doubles was junior forward Josh Hill, as he recorded his seventh of the season and fourth straight by totaling 17 points and a season-best tying 14 rebounds. The 17 points for Hill came on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor. 
 
For the fourth straight game, senior forward Victor Ruiz de Carranza posted at least four rebounds, finishing with a stat line of seven points, eight rebounds, and a season-best seven assists. The assists tie a career-mark for Ruiz de Carranza, having done so twice last season, the last of which came on Feb. 12, 2019 against Chaminade. As a team, ART U had 18 assists, the 12th time this season they've had at least 15 assists in a single game. 
 
Leading the game in scoring was FPU's Aamondae Coleman, as he ended with a double-double of his own with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Also in double-figures was Adrian Antunez with 14 points and seven rebounds. 
 
The Urban Knights will take the court once again on Saturday afternoon when they continue to push for a postseason appearance against Biola at 3:30 p.m.