LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola matched its fourth-best start in school history with a 65-54 non-conference victory over the University of Redlands in its final non-conference game of the season on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium.

The Eagles improve to 13-0 with the victory, the best start since the 2001-02 season and matches the fourth-best start with came in 1986-87. The Bulldogs fall to 3-7 on the season.

Senior forward Rocky Hampton led Biola with an 18-points, 12-rebound performance, adding four blocks and two steals. It was his eighth-straight game scoring in double-figures and fifth double-double of the season. junior guard Nate Rakestraw recorded 11 points and added four rebounds, four steals and two assists.

The game was a lot closer than the Eagles have been used to thanks to a strong effort by the Redlands offense and poor perimeter shooting by Biola. The Eagles shot a season-low 16.7 percent from three-point range, making just 3-of-18 shots from long-range. However, Redlands connected on eight three-pointers which helped keep the game close through.

In the first half, Biola got off to a poor shooting start, hitting just three of its first 13 shots and trailing 12-6 just under six minutes into the contest. After taking back the lead with a short 7-0 run, the two teams battled back and forth the rest of the period with neither team able to take a lead larger than four points. Two of Biola's three three-pointers came from junior forward Josh Miller late in the half, the second of which put the Eagles up 27-24 with 3:01 to play. A layup by Hampton with 41 seconds left made it a 32-28 game, but Redlands pulled within one on a three-pointer by Pat Coffey to cap the half.

Biola switched defensive strategies in the second half, playing a zone to combat the Bulldogs, who shot 43 percent from the field in the first half. The strategy paid off as the Eagles held Redlands to just 28 percent shooting in the second.

Biola slowly expanded its lead to six over the first four minutes, with a layup by Marlon King giving the Eagles a 40-34 lead at the 16:02 mark. The third and final three-pointer of the game for Biola would stretch the advantage to nine at 47-38 as Tim Island connected on three out of an Eagle timeout.

Still leading by nine with 2:22 to go, the Eagles watched as Redlands cut the lead down the five on a pair of three-pointers by Coffey, the second of which made it 59-54 with 45 seconds left. But Biola held strong thanks to six-straight free throws in the final minute of the game, after missing 11 of 17 free throw attempts in the previous 39 minutes.

Thanks in large part to the play of Hampton, the Eagles held a commanding 36-16 advantage in the paint, which helped offset the poor outside shooting night.

The victory improves Biola to 13-0 for just the fifth time in school history. In 2001-02, the Eagles started out the season 20-0 and finished 29-5, reaching the second round of the NAIA tournament. The other strong starts came in 1986-87 (13-0) and 1987-88 (16-0). The longest winning streak to start the season came in 1981-82, when Biola won its first 39 games before falling in the NAIA Championship game.

One odd note, in 1986-87, the Eagles opened 13-0, but lost 54-50 to Azusa Pacific University in what proved to be the first of just two losses in the season.

Up next for Biola is a the same Cougars in what should be yet another thrilling battle in the storied rivalry between the two squads. The Eagles face their arch-rivals up in Azusa and return to GSAC play on Tuesday (Jan. 5) at 7:30 p.m. at the Felix Event Center.