Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Despite holding a 21-point lead midway through the second half, Biola had to hang on late to pull out a 78-71 win over The Master's College in its season-finale on Saturday night, earning a rematch with the Mustangs in the first round of the GSAC tournament on Thursday.
The Eagles cap an impressive finish to the regular season with their fifth-straight win and 10th win in their last 11 games. Biola is now 22-8 and finishes in a three-way tie for second in the conference with a 12-6 record. The Mustangs drop to 17-13 and finished sixth in the conference at 9-9. The Eagles are the No. 3 seed in the upcoming GSAC tournament and will face The Master's again on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium--one of three opening round games rematching Saturday night's games.
Andre Murillo scored a game-high 19 points and Given Kaiipinde added 17 to pace the Biola attack and keeping the Eagles' hopes of a return trip the NAIA Tournament alive. Kalipinde also added nine rebounds, six steals and five assists in the game.
Biola seemed to be cruising to an easy win after three-straight fast-break layups by Kalipinde gave the Eagles a 56-35 lead with 13:07 remaining in the game. Despite a bit of a rally by the Mustangs, Biola still held a relatively comfortable 15-point lead at 66-51 with 6:26 to go. But The Master's still had life remaining and slowly started chipping away, using a quick seven-point run to pull within four at 70-66 on a three-pointer by Devin Dyer with 2:03 to play.
With a five point lead and around 1:20 left, it looked like the Eagles would seal the game on a three-pointer by Dakota Anderson. But a highly questionable offensive goaltending call erased the basket and gave the ball back to the Mustangs. Sure enough, The Master's would capitalize as Jon Hogan drained a three-pointer just 18 seconds later to make it a two-point game.
But Biola worked down the clock on the next possession and Davey Hopkins was fouled with five seconds left on the clock as he drove to the bucket. The senior would drain both free throws to stretch the lead back to four with 25 seconds left. The Master's missed a three-point attempt on the other end and Kaimarr Price hauled down the rebound. After quickly getting fouled, he calmly connected on both free throw attempts to extend the lead to six at 75-69 with 17 seconds left and seal the victory.
Hopkins finished with 10 points and five assists, adding two steals and connecting on 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Price scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Dyer scored a team-high 17 points for the Mustangs with Anthony Cammon adding 16 points.
Oddly enough, the GSAC tournament features three of four games between teams which played each other in the final game of the regular season on Saturday night. The No. 3 seeded Eagles once again host No. 6 The Master's while No. 5 Westmont will make a return trip to battle No. 4 Azusa Pacific. The same can be said about No. 7 Vanguard driving back down to San Diego to face No. 2 Point Loma Nazarene. Top-seeded Concordia faces a different opponent than on Saturday as No. 8 Fresno Pacific travels to Costa Mesa. All four games start at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The win helped improve Biola's chances of making it to the NAIA Tournament for the fourth-straight season. The Eagles closeout the season with a 10-1 record--the best of any GSAC team over that stretch. Biola also went 8-1 in the second half of the conference schedule despite having to close out the season with four of seven games on the road. National berths are announced after the GSAC tournament is completed, likely at some point on Wednesday, March 7.
