BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. — Marlon King led all scorers with 17 points as Biola downed Westmont College 72-66 in a GSAC game Tuesday night, giving Head Coach Dave Holmquist his 700th win with the Eagles.
Biola improves to 16-10 and is back to .500 in conference at 8-8 while the Warriors fall to 13-11 overall and 7-9 in GSAC play.
The victory for the Eagles gave Coach Holmquist his second milestone of the 2007-08 season. Earlier in the year, he coached his 1,000th career game though it was spoiled by Westmont in Santa Barbara. However, Biola was able to exact revenge for the earlier loss and give Holmquist his 700th win at Biola.
King led all scorers and had a stellar night, hitting 5-for-9 from the field and adding seven free throws in as many attempts. Forward Danny Jones added 14 points and 13 boards for the Eagles and was also 5-of-9 from the floor.
The game was another classic Biola/Westmont battle in a long-running rivalry that dates back to the early 1960s. In this saga, the Eagles pulled away right before the half, breaking an 18-18 tie with a 13-5 to take an eight-point lead to the locker room. Freshman Elliott Tan finished with just six points, but helped key the run by hitting a pair of three-pointers.
In the second half, Biola's broke the game wide open, continuing its hot shooting to post a 13-4 run over the first four minutes of the period to take its biggest lead of the game at 44-27. The Eagles still held a 16-point lead with 7:27 to play before Westmont started to claw its way back into the contest.
Trailing 60-44, the Warriors quickly put together a 9-2 run to pull to within nine as Josh Ware scored four points and Tyler Dutton drained a deep three. Moments later, Andrew Schmalbach hit a three-pointer to make it 67-60 with 2:13 to go.
Danny Campbell gave the Eagles a 10-point cushion with a three-pointer on the next possession, but with 26 seconds to play, Colin Hofer's layup made it 70-66. After a quick Westmont foul, Jones hit one of two free throws to give the Eagles a five-point edge, then Schmalbach's three-pointer rattled out on the other end and Jones secured the rebound to seal the deal.
The final numbers for both teams were nearly identical, except that Biola shot 57 percent in the second half while holding Westmont to just 44 percent. The Eagles also hit eight three's to the Warrior's five.
Campbell finished the game with 11 points while guard Larry Tieu added 10. Josh Ware led the way for Westmont with 12 points followed by Dan Rasp, who scored 10 in the loss.
Biola now hits the road for its final two road games of the regular season, starting with a trip to Irvine to face No. 5 Concordia University on Saturday (Feb. 23) at 7:30 p.m.
