OAKLAND, Calif. – Academy of Art men's basketball fought until the final buzzer in a Pacific West Conference showdown against Westmont in a game that saw two overtime periods and big time shots knocked down from both teams. However, when ART U would start to build a lead, the Warriors would stay within striking distance, as this led to an eventual back-and-forth battle in the clutch, with Westmont taking the win with an 82-80 final score on Thursday.

After heading into the break with a slight lead over the Warriors, now 8-13 overall and 4-9 in PacWest play, at 36-31, the Urban Knights, now 14-7 on the season and 10-7 in conference action, could never manage to pull away from Westmont. The second half would see 11 lead changes, with Knights from every angle crashing the glass and finding scores. Every member of ART U that saw the floor reached the scoreboard and grabbed a rebound, with the squad putting in an overall collective effort to play team basketball. In the last minutes of regular time, each of the last five scores for ART U came from a different Knight, and with the score set at 59-59 after 40 minutes of action, the game would head into extra time.

In the first period of overtime, all points on ART U were turned in by junior forward Jamal Fuller, junior forward Isaiah Williams, and senior forward Latrell Williams. With just nine seconds remaining, Fuller would find the game-tying basket, as he managed to get a jumper to go, resetting the score at 71-71. The first overtime would come to and end with the teams still tied.

The opening basket of double overtime would come with less than two minutes remaining in the period, as Drew Ramirez chucked up a prayer from range and found the net. Less than a minute later, Ramirez tested his luck and connected on another triple, and the Warriors found a quick six-point lead with 45 seconds remaining. After two more made free throws for the Warriors, junior guard Allen Taylor and Fuller knocked down three shots from range with a few more points from the charity stripe in the mix in favor of Westmont. With less than two seconds to go, the Knights found the shot they were looking for, but could not get it to fall as the squad would fall just short of the Warriors, ending off with an 82-80 score.

Fuller led the Knights in points (20) while he brought in the second-most rebounds on the squad (8), while Latrell Williams and Isaiah Williams would follow up behind (12 points apiece). Latrell Williams brought in the most rebounds (14), as junior guard Rodney Munson was the fourth Knight to score double-digit points (11). 

Westmont saw Adrian McIntyre (21 points) and Anthony McIntyre (19 points) led the Warriors on the offensive end, while the trio of Anthony McIntyre, Mason Romano, and Jarrett Bryant collectively brought in 28 defensive rebounds. 

The Knights will be right back at it this Saturday at Laney College Gym in Oakland, Calif. where the squad will host Fresno Pacific with a 3:30 tip-off for the team's ALS Awareness Game.