Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola used a late 21-5 run to take over what had been a close second half and pull away to an 85-74 win over West Coast Baptist College in its final non-conference tuneup on Friday night at Chase Gymnasium.
Biola heads into GSAC play next week riding a two-game winning-streak and holding a 10-6 overall record. West Coast Baptist falls to 3-11.
Mike Kurtz recorded his first double-double for Biola, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds, adding three assists, one block and a steal. Zack Zaragoza led Biola with 20 points and had eight rebounds and five assists. David Cline continued his scoring barrage, recording 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting before fouling out late in the contest.
Biola opened the game strong and looked like it would cruise to an easy victory, breaking open the game with an 11-4 run to take a 19-8 lead midway through the first half. WCBC rallied back and cut the lead to four with 4:21 left, but saw Biola go back up by 11 with 1:09 to play before halftime.
But West Coast Baptist rallied with a 12-0 run which spanned the half to take its first lead of the game at 37-36 two minutes into the second half. The game stayed within a single possession over the next five minutes before a three-pointer by Dakota Anderson and a fast break layup by Cody Wittick put Biola up 53-47 at the 11:53 mark.
West Coast Baptist responded again with a 10-0 run over the next two minutes taking its larges lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Sherrod Tibbs to go up 57-53. With 7:56 left, Biola still trailed 59-57, but roared back to life, using a 21-5 run over the next five minutes to take command. Zaragoza hit a jumper out of the timeout and then drained a long three-pointer two possessions later to make it 78-64 Biola with 3:05 left.
Biola would extend the lead to as many as 15 on another long distance three-pointer by Zaragoza with 30 seconds left before finishing the game with an 11-point win.
Travis Burkett led West Coast Baptist with 27 points while Mark Rasmussen added 23 points off the bench.
Wittick would finish with 10 points and seven assists in just 21 minutes for Biola with David Swartz nearly missing a double-double in just his second game with the team, scoring nine points with nine rebounds.
Biola now faces a tough challenge to start the GSAC schedule, traveling to Santa Barbara on Tuesday to face No. 5 Westmont at 7:30 p.m. The Eagles return home Saturday (Jan. 12) to face Vanguard University also at 7:30 p.m.
