BOX SCORE
SAN DIEGO --- Despite holding a lead throughout most of the contest, Biola was unable to pull out the upset as No. 11-ranked Point Loma Nazarene rallied late to win 63-60 on Thursday night at Golden Gymnasium in San Diego.
The loss was a tough one for Biola as it drops the Eagles to 1-2 in GSAC play and 5-2 overall. Point Loma moved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in conference.
Point Loma received 31 points from Spanish guard Xavier Lopez, who was 10-of-16 from the field including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.
The Eagles were led by the 15 points and 10 rebounds from freshman Rocky Hampton. Biola's Danny Jones also added 13 points in the losing effort.
Biola jumped out to an early lead and cruised to an 11 point lead at 26-15 with six minutes left in the first half. However, the Sea Lions went on a 13-3 run to pull within one point and trailed by three at the half.
In the second half, the Eagles regained a large lead at 46-37 with 15 minutes to go. Point Loma continued to chip away and a managed to tie the score at 50 and took its first lead of the night on a layup by Josh Sanderson with 2:50 to go.
Point Loma took its final lead of the night with a long three-pointer by Lopez with 1:20 remaining to break a 58-58 tie.
Jones pulled Biola to within one at 61-60 with 50 seconds to go and a block by Hampton on Tim Kruge with 24 seconds gave Biola life. But Hampton's shot on the other end rattled off and a pair of free throws by Lopez sealed the deal.
Senior guard Solomon Mercado had 10 points to help the Eagles while fellow senior Spencer Foster had eight points and as many boards.
Free throws--or a lack thereof--proved to cost the Eagles in the second half as they went to the line just three times in the final 20 minutes compared to 16 trips by their opponents. Biola converted on just one of those three shots while the Sea Lions hit on 10 of their 16.
Close contests have not been kind to Biola as the team has now lost two games by a total of four points, while winning five by a combined 116 points.
The Eagles take a week of this next week as they prepare for a non-conference match-up at NCAA Division III Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
