Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Biola's normally stout defense fell victim to a hot-shooting Westmont team which used a big second half to cruise to a 84-61 win in a GSAC game on Tuesday night at Murchison Gymnasium.
The loss snaps a five-game winning-streak by the Eagles which had moved them to within two games of first place in the conference. But the defeat drops them to 17-8 overall and to 7-6 in conference play, now three games back of the front-running Warriors who improve to 18-4 and 10-3 in GSAC play.
The 100th all-time meeting between the two long-time rivals came down to the Warriors' great shooting in the second half. Westmont, which hit 58.8% in the game overall, connected on 59.3% of its shot in the pivotal second half. The Warriors were also 8-of-12 from three-point range and converted 16 of 18 free throw attempts in the game.
Biola, on the other hand, hit just 35.9% in the game including 24% in the second half, making 8-of-33 attempts over the final 20 minutes.
Chase Adams led Biola with 15 points--13 points coming in the first half. Adams hit 3-of-5 from three-point range and pulled down three rebounds. Davey Hopkins added 11 points and seven boards for the Eagles.
Westmont's Preston Branson, who went over 1,000 career points in the game, led all scorers with 22 points points. Nate Gibbs was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in the game.
Biola to the first big lead of the game in the first half as Hopkins drained a three-pointer near the midway point of the period to give Biola a 22-16 lead. The Warriors would answer back with back-to-back three-pointers to tie it, but the Eagles would keep up the lead through the rest of the half and took a 37-35 lead to the break.
Things changed in a big way in the second half. Westmont took its first lead in a while thanks in large part to Nate Gibbs, who drew two charges and converted a three-point play on the other end. That was followed by a three-pointer by the Warriors which made it a six-point game at 47-41 just over three minutes in.
Two minutes later Andre Murillo hit a layup to pull the Eagles back to within four, but that would be all for the visitors. Westmont then rattled off a long 22-4 run over the next seven minutes which featured the Warriors hitting just about ever shot they took while Biola went ice cold.
A microcosm of how the second half went for the Eagles came near the midway point when Biola missed four consecutive shots--three within three feet of the basket--and pulled down offensive rebounds on each. However, after missing a fifth attempt from in the paint, Westmont was able to secure the rebound and Brendan Hill passed ahead to Branson who converted the easy layup on the other end.
Biola would not get any closer than 18 the rest of the way as Westmont rolled to the victory.
The 84 points allowed matched a season-high by the Biola defense this year, which entered the game ranked fourth in the NAIA in scoring defense allowing just 60.8 points per game. The previous high came in the Eagles 86-84 overtime win at Vanguard two weeks ago.
Biola returns to action on Saturday, hosting Point Loma Nazarene in a GSAC battle on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. At halftime of the game, the Eagles will be honoring the 1981-82 team which finished the season as the NAIA National Runners-Up with a 39-1 overall record 30 years ago.
