BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Despite winning just once in the conference coming into the game, Vanguard University played like champions, pulling a minor upset by beating Biola University 64-63 on Saturday night in La Mirada.
The Lions improve to 5-13 on the season and are now 2-7 in GSAC play while the Eagles fall to 10-9 overall and 4-5 in conference action.
Biola had three players in double-figures with senior Solomon Mercado and freshman Rocky Hampton each scoring 16 points. Junior Danny Jones had 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks to round out the majority of the scoring.
Vanguard received a team-high 13 points from Dennis Heenan with Kevin Dalafu and Brandon Henderson adding 12 points each.
The two teams battled back and forth the entire game with the game staying very close through the first half. After the Eagles took a 28-25 lead to the half, they came out gunning in the second and took what seemed to be an insurmountable 38-28 lead with 13:41 remaining.
But the Lions jumped back into the game and took a seven-point lead at 56-49 with just 2:54 remaining thanks to a long 28-11 run. They stretched the lead to eight at 58-50 with 1:58 to go before things got interesting.
Mercado converted one of two free throws with 1:50 remaining to make the score 58-51, then stole the inbound pass and had an easy layin to cut the lead to five. After Dalafu missed the front end of a one-and-one, Hampton hit a running layin to make it 58-55.
After Heenan then converted a pair of free throws with 1:08 left to stretch the lead back to five, Mercado drilled a long three-pointer to cut it to two. Biola allowed Vanguard to use most of the shot clock before the Lions' last-second shot by Dalafu was blocked by Lafayette Lofton. Lofton pushed the ball up ahead to Mercado, but his layin in traffic with 20 seconds left rolled out and into the hands of Brian Roberts.
Roberts hit a pair of free throws, then after a Jones layup with four seconds left, Dalafu converted another pair to ice the game with Mercado's half court heave at the buzzer making for the final tally.
Vanguard won the turnover battle, which proved to be key in the game. The Lions committed just five turnovers to Biola's 12. Vanguard also held a 12-9 edge in offensive rebounds and held an 18-8 edge in second-chance points.
Biola's biggest woe came from the free throw line where the Eagles hit just 13-of-21 attempts including missing the front-end of one-and-ones four times.
Biola hosts arch-rival Azusa Pacific on Saturday (Jan. 23) at 7:30 p.m. in the annual grudge match. The Cougars are not playing well lately either, having lost two in a row after starting the season 16-1. A limited number of tickets are still available. For more information, contact the Biola Sports Information office at (562) 903-4889.
