LA MIRADA, Calif. --- James Green's steal and fast-break layup with five seconds left gave San Diego Christian a surprising 56-54 victory over Biola in a GSAC game on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium.

The loss drops the Eagles top 18-7 overall and to 9-6 in GSAC play, dropping them into fourth place in the conference standings. Meanwhile, the Hawks improve to 9-15 on the season and to 4-11 in conference action. The Hawks' bad record is a bit deceptive, though, as 11 of their 15 conference games have now been decided by eight or fewer points with four of the losses coming by four or fewer points.

Green recorded the steal as Biola was attempting to run a final play with the clock winding down in what proved to be another thrilling battle between the two teams. Green stepped in front of a pass at the top of the key and sprinted ahead of the defense, recording an easy layup with five seconds to go. 

Biola came back down with one final chance to score, but Marlon King's desperation three pointer at the buzzer glanced off the front of the rim. 

The game was a thrilling back-and-forth affair which featured 12 ties and eight lead changes with neither team holding a lead of more than seven. 

The Hawks had the early advantage in the game, opening up a 12-9 lead near the midway point of the first half. But the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run over the next two minute to go up 16-12.The score remained close until late in the half when San Diego Christian open up a bit of a lead. Already up 24-23, back-to-back three-pointers by Diminic Anxo and Daniel Hazlett sandwiched a basket by King to give the Hawks a 30-25 edge at halftime.

In the second half, Biola opened strong thanks to a 14-2 run capped by a long three-pointer by Josh Salo. The run gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 39-32 with 14:48 to play. But San Diego Christian bounced right back with an 11-4 run three three-pointers over that stretch including back-to-back triples by Hazlett. The final three tied the score at 43-43 with 10:27 to play and the score would remain close the rest of the way.

Green gave San Diego Christian a four-point advantage at 52-48 on a jumper in the lane with 5:57 to go, but Josh Miller quickly cut it back to one with a three-pointer on the next possession.  Neither team could score for the next 3:30 until Rocky Hampton hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 52-52.

On the next possession, the Hawks broke their scoring drought on a Kevin Dillon jumper with 1:46 remaining. But the Eagles answered back on the next possession as Nate Rakestraw picked up an offensive rebound and putback to tie the score again with 1:08 to go. 

San Diego Christian worked the clock down but a long three-point attempt by Anxo came after the shot clock buzzer sounded and gave the Eagles a shot with the shot clock turned off. After a timeout, Biola dribbled down the clock and began to run their final play with 10 seconds. However, a pass by Danny Campbell was intercepted by Green and run back for the winning bucket.

Biola actually shot well in the game throughout, hitting 45 percent (22-for-49) from the field, committing just 10 turnovers and recording 29 rebounds. However, while the Hawks hit just 41 percent overall, the connected on nine three-pointers. Also, while they didn't force too many turnovers, they converted those 10 Biola miscues into 20 points. Finally, even though they had just 30 rebounds, the Hawks had 12 on the offensive glass and recorded 10 second-chance points.

Miller led the Eagles with 14 points on the night while King added 12 points and five steals. Hampton was held to just eight points and six rebounds by the Hawks' Paul Wolf, who finished with six points and 11 rebounds himself.

Biola hits the road for a big GSAC game on Tuesday (Feb. 17), traveling to Santa Barbara to face Westmont with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m.