Biola men’s basketball on a roll with fourth consecutive win

Biola’s Chris Rossow (5) rebounds a shot in front of Azusa Pacific defenders in their men’s basketball conference game at Biola University in La Mirada on Saturday. Biola defeated Azusa Pacific 70-67. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

LA MIRADA – With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Biola Men’s Basketball team is on a major roll in the shortened PacWest schedule with a four-game winning streak.

The Eagles (5-2, 5-1), who are second behind PacWest Southern California “Pod” leader Point Loma (5-0, 4-0), won twice over rival Azusa Pacific last weekend, and twice over Concordia, Feb. 5, 6.

Biola defeated APU on Friday and Saturday.

The stage is set for the Eagles for this weekends’ set of games beginning today (Feb. 19) at Chase Gymnasium and tomorrow (Feb. 20) at Point Loma. Both games begin at 4:30 pm.

The first set of games scheduled with Point Loma on Jan. 29, 30, was postponed due to conference COVID-19 protocols.

After Biola’s 10-point, 81-71, win over APU on Friday, the Eagles won their second game in a row against the Cougars with a go-ahead tip-in by junior forward Jesse Elrod (3-8 FG, 5 RB, 7 Pts.) with just .09 remaining.

After an APU inbound, the Cougars attempted the go-ahead basket, but a missed shot and rebound was grabbed by sophomore guard Alex Wright (9-15 FG, 3-4 3PFG), as he was fouled with just .03 left in the game.

“I’m in position and see the ball and tipped it my way and kept my guy behind me,” Wright explained, of the game-winning play. “I played all 80 minutes this weekend. I’m having too much fun out here.

“I know that we’re a real gritty team. That’s our ID. I told the guys when there was two minutes left, ‘…we’ve been here before, let’s keep grinding away. We know what to do. Let’s put these guys away.’ “That’s exactly what we did.”

On the ensuing play, Biola junior guard Chris Rossow (8 RB, 8 Pts) found Wright sprinting down the court for the uncontested lay-up, for the 70-67 final.

“At the end everything was huge,” Elrod said. “You gotta love the dynamic of the team and also the individual play and recognize the team play.

“(APU) went on a run at the end of the game, but we weathered the storm and kept our composure, because we’re an experienced team. With the defensive rebounds at the end, everything was huge.”

With his fourth and fifth victories of the season, Biola Men’s coach Dave Holmquist is now just three shy of one of the most prestigious milestones in college basketball – 1,000 career wins.

“I’ve always loved close wins along with every person in the country,” Holmquist said. “Close losses are so painful and close wins you feel so fortunate.

“We happen to make a couple plays at the end and made a couple baskets and we executed our press offense well and I just feel real fortunate that we got this one. I’m proud of our team. We played real hard this weekend.”

In the storied history between the two rivals, APU still holds a 61-54 advantage all time.

For the second week in a row, Wright was named PacWest Player of the Week.

Wright, who leads the team in rebounds with a 9.4 per game average and is tied with 17.4 points per game avg., had 15 points and six rebounds in Friday’s win.

He came back in Saturday’s victory with 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

“He’s played outstanding basketball and does a little bit of everything for us,” said Holmquist, of Wright. “He scores and is our best rebounder. He has great endurance and sometimes he plays the whole game.”

 “(Saturday) a lot of guys contributed,” Holmquist added. “We were fortunate at the end that a couple of things went our way.

“I feel great and the difference between feeling really good and feeling not very good is just a point or two.”

The first half of the 70-67 win on Saturday was fairly close, as Wright led the way with 13 points. The Eagles led by five points multiple times and had a six-point, 24-18, lead midway through the period. Biola led 36-31 at the break.

The second half was a different story early, as Biola went on a 17-8 run in the first six and a half minutes for the 53-39 lead at the 13:28 mark.

However, APU wouldn’t go away, as they went on their own run, outscoring the Eagles, 13-0 in just over a three-minute span, to trail by one, 53-52, midway through the period. Biola missed five consecutive shots.

After APU took a three-point, 67-64, lead with 2:57 left, 6-8 freshman center Max Milovich connected on a short jumper to trail, 67-66 with just over two minutes remaining.

Elrod and Wright finished off the game from there to give the Eagles the win and a 5-1 conference record.

What they said:

Alex Wright, junior guard: (On playing first-place Point Loma). “It’s going to be a tough game. Obviously we couldn’t play last time because of the corona virus protocols. We’re excited and want to play the best-of-the-best. We want to play two hard games.”

Chris Rossow, senior guard: (On the variety of Biola scoring). “It gives the other teams a hard time to scout. It’s Alex one game, the next game they might come out hard on Alex (Wright) and that opens stuff up for me and Mike (Bagatourian). I think that big three right there is tough.

“We’re all playing for one goal. The points will take care of itself. All we have to do is play hard every game.”

Michael Bagatourian, senior forward: “We all can score. I think our first game (Northwest Nazarene) we played, we lost and we had five or six guys (six) in double digits.

“That’s what happens in these back-to-back games. I played well (career high 31 points) on Friday (81-71 win versus APU) and then they (APU) said, ‘we’ll take him away’. When they do that, we have too many players.

“It’s doesn’t seem like it (one big star), but we’ve been playing together for what, two years now, and it’s starting to jell. We just have too many good players.”

Biola Women’s team falls twice to APU

For the third time in four games against rival APU, the women let fourth-quarter leads disappear and fell to a last place record of 1-7 in the PacWest (2-7 overall) So Cal “Pod”.

The Eagles lost a pair of games to APU on Friday (Feb. 12), 62-57, and Saturday (Feb. 13), 83-76.

“This is a great experience for us, playing so many close games,” Biola Women’s Basketball coach Alan Nakamura said. “I wish we had two months more in the season. We’re getting better every game, but we haven’t been finishing well. Just around the corner, we’ll be one of the toughest teams to beat.

“It’s been exciting and a pleasure to go through this challenge with this group. They are such high quality young ladies.”

In Saturday’s loss, Biola had built up their largest (15 points) lead of the game, 56-41, on a three-pointer by sophomore forward Jordan Rabe (7-11 FG, 4-7 FT, 8 RB, 4 Stl.) with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

APU (6-3, 5-3) put the game away with a 21-5 run over the final 4:09.

Biola led by a point, 76-75, with 34 seconds left, but the Cougars were a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line to put the game away.

Leading the way for the Eagles was Rabe, with a team-high 19 points. Also in double figures was sophomore guard Stephanie Lee (3-4 FT, 10 RB) and junior guard Aysia Johnson (3-5 FG, 4-4 FT) with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Due to injuries, Rabe has been getting more playing time lately and took advantage of the opportunity.

“I didn’t get a ton of minutes early on, but just got to work my way through,” Rabe said. “A lot of it was injuries and I just got to step up at the right time.”

Rabe commented on the late-game lapses. “A lot of it just that we’re a young team and we’re still trying to get the feel of it and how to play together. I think a lot of that will come with maturity and experience.”

The women will play PacWest So Cal “Pod” leader Point Loma in a home-and-home series this weekend.

Eagle Notes

Swimming and Diving

In a first-chance qualifier at UNLV last Saturday, Feb. 13, the Men’s and Women’s team set six new Biola records.

In addition to the school records set, coach Ryan Kauth’s squads also had six different swims finish better than the NCAA Division II ‘B’ qualifying standard.

Six records: Matthew Trejo, freshman (100 Butterfly, 50.47, Personal Record); Patrick Waggoner, soph. (200 Freestyle, 1:40.59 PR); Tanner Smith, soph. (100 Backstroke, 50.93 PR); Meghan Tolman, freshman (100 Breaststroke, 1:03.20 PR); 400 Free Relay (Waggoner, Trejo, Smith, Jonas Huckabay, 3:04); 200 Medley Relay (Smith, Trejo, Huckabay, James Gamette, 1:33.64).

NCAA ‘B’ qualifying standard: Katelyn Harper, junior (400 IM, 4:28.78); Kolya Vos, soph. (200 Free, 1:52.58; 100 Free, 50.84).

Next up for the teams is a trip to Cal Poly SLO Saturday Feb. 27 for a dual meet.

Soccer

The Biola Men’s team (PacWest 0-2) lost, 4-1, at Al Barbour Field Feb. 10 to Concordia University Irvine. Scoring the lone goal for the Eagles in the PacWest home opener was junior Midfielder Aidan Hill.

Biola will host Point Loma Wednesday Feb. 24 at 4:00 pm.

The Biola Women’s team (1-1) evened its record with a, 3-1, win over visiting Concordia Irvine Feb. 10.

Eagles Junior Midfielder Katelyn Penner scored a pair of goals and freshman defenseman Jesss Hase tallied her first collegiate goal.

Both the men (4:00 pm) and women (7:00 pm) will host Point Loma Wednesday Feb. 24.

Women’s Golf

The Biola Women’s Golf team opened the season, hosting the Biola Eagle Invitational at the Grand Golf Club in San Diego, finishing one stroke behind first place Point Loma.

The two-day invitational featured six teams.

Leading the way for the Eagles was medalist Brady Turnquist, with a tourney-best 148. The freshman shot a tourney low score 71 on day one and a 77 on day two among the 30 entrants.

Teammate Sophia Karnazes finished with a third place finish with a two-day 152 (76-76).

 “I am very proud of our players and especially the freshmen who really stepped up,” Biola Women’s Golf coach Jane Carr said. “We have had to shuffle our roster this spring and rely heavily on our freshmen. They have exceeded my expectations.”

The Biola women’s team will travel to the Holy Names Tournament in the Bay area Feb. 22-23.

Tennis

Both the men’s and Women’s teams have identical records and scores in both early-season matches.

They each opened the schedule with a 7-0 blanking of Saint Katherine (San Marcos) and fell to Concordia Irvine, 4-1.

Lilly McNeill leads the women’s team on the young season with a 2-0 singles record in the No. 4 position. The freshman blanked her Saint Katherine opponent, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0 against Concordia.

She teamed with freshman Brooke Fager for a 6-4 doubles win against Saint Katherine.

McNeill has lost only one game in singles action for the Eagles.

Sophomore Sebastian Herrera is also 2-0 for the men in his singles matches. Herrera opened the season against Saint Katherine with straight-set wins in his singles match, 6-1, 6-2 and won his doubles match with partner Alexei Prokopchuk, 6-0.

In his second singles match of the season against Concordia, he lost his opening set, 6-3, but came back with 6-1, 6-2 wins.

The teams travel to Point Loma Saturday Feb. 20 for a 2:00 pm match.