SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's basketball went down to the wire with Academy of Art University, but ultimately fell 81-78 Thursday night at the Conlan Center. 

The Penguins (6-11, 2-9 PacWest) almost completed a late comeback behind Cedric Thomas and his team-high 22 points to go with five rebounds and two steals. Ezra Talbert went a perfect 4 for 4 from 3-point range, finishing with 18 points and five rebounds. Christopher Williams added 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

Andrija Blatancic led all players with a double-double of 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Urban Knights (5-10, 5-5 PacWest). Stefan Milivojevic went 6-of-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from the perimeter to finish with 18 points for Academy of Art. 

The teams played even for most of the first 10 minutes with the Urban Knights holding to a narrow 23-19 advantage. Talbert cashed in on his second three of the night and Thomas battled down low for a layup to give the Penguins the 24-23 lead two minutes later as the seesaw competition continued. Milivojevic stunted the momentum with his third 3-pointer of the night. The teams traded points for the remainder of the half until Jordan Williams snatched a loose ball and nailed a buzzer-beater from half court to send the Penguins to the locker room with the 39-38 lead.

The Penguins held on to the momentum as tight as they could, holding to a 5-point lead coming out of the half. The Urban Knights finally broke through and reeled off 17 straight, capitalizing on three offensive rebounds to take a 70-57 lead with six minutes remaining.

Chris Williams ended the drought with a coast-to-coast layup and then followed it up with a fastbreak layup through contact for an old-fashioned 3-point play to trim the lead to eight. With 2:40 left and the Penguins down by 7, a double technical sent Niven to the locker rooms with his second of the night. The momentum seemed to return to the Penguins, but Thomas fouled out 40 seconds later to even the field.

The Penguins continued to push their way back into the game despite losing their leading scorer, and Talbert sunk two 3-pointers in a row to make it 78-75 with 42 seconds left on the clock. It was as close as they would get with Art U sealing the game from the free-throw line. 

Dominican will hit the road to face the top-ranked Point Loma with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. PST Thursday. Live video and stats will be available online.