SAN FRANCISCO – Dominican men's basketball was unable to hold down the offensive firepower of Academy of Art University in the second half, falling 62-79 Friday night at Kezar Pavilion.

Christian Futch continued to be the focal point for the Penguins (7–14, 3-12 PacWest) as he poured in a season-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds, five blocks and one steal. Cedric Thomas added 16 points, while Chris Williams II and Ezra Talbert each had eight points. 

Andrija Blatancic led all scorers with 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting, while adding seven rebounds, two steals and one assist for the Urban Knights (7-13, 7-8 PacWest). Cobe Williams added an efficient 4 of 7 from 3-point range on his way to 18 points.

Art U finished the game shooting 52.5 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from behind the arc, including 83.3 percent from 3-point range in the second half as it pulled away from Dominican. 

The Penguins and Urban Knights were locked into a seesaw battle throughout the first half. Jared Harper found Chris Williams II for a 3-pointer to give Dominican a 15-10 lead near the midway point of the quarter as Dominican looked to establish the momentum. 

The Urban Knights forced two turnovers and added an offensive rebound and putback by Blatancic to quickly close the gap back to one with 9:14 left in the half. Chris Williams II shifted the momentum back to the Penguins with his second 3-pointer of the night and Harper followed up with a steal and assist to Thomas for a layup to make it 20-14 half a minute later.

Cobe Williams scored five straight points to turn the tables back to Art U and the Urban Knights took their second lead of the game when Victor Ruiz De Carranza stole the ball and found Stefan Milivojevic for a layup to make it 21-20 with 7:41 on the clock. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads with seven lead changes. 

Just as Art U seemed to pull away, Chris Williams II knocked down a pair of free throws and Jordan Williams stole the ball from the Urban Knights and took it all the way to the hole to tie the game at 31 with 37 seconds remaining for the final points of the half.

Art U finally opened up a lead after Cobe Williams knocked down another 3-pointer and then added a midrange jumper to spark an 11-3 run to make it 50-42 with 12:47 left in the game. After Dominican was able to get back within two possessions, Blatancic scored six points to send the Urban Knights on an 11-2 run and build the first double-digit lead of the game at 61-47 with 7:28 remaining on the clock. 

The Penguins and Urban Knights exchanged buckets throughout the rest of regulation, but Dominican was unable to get the necessary defensive stops to bring the deficit back to singles digits. 

Dominican will bid aloha to California next week as they travel to Hawai'i for a three-game road trip. Dominican will take on Hawai'i Pacific University on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. HST. Live video and stats will be available online.