Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola overcame a 13-point, second-half deficit, but the late rally was not enough to pull of a stunning upset as the Eagles fell 72-61 to No. 8 Westmont College in the regular-season finale for both teams on Saturday night at Chase Gymnasium.
The Eagles suffer their second-straight loss and fall to 15-15 on the season and to 5-9 in conference play. The Warriors finish the regular season with a 24-6 record and win the regular-season GSAC title with a 12-2 record.
Biola finished the season tied for sixth in the GSAC standings and enter the conference tournament as the No. 7 seed. The Eagles open the GSAC Tournament on Thursday at No. 2 seed Hope International University beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The game was a thriller throughout, played in front of one of the largest crowds of the season as 1,908 fans packed Chase Gym.
Westmont led through much of the game, leading by double-digits through much of the second half. The Warriors held a commanding 13-point lead midway through the second half as Mantas Drungys hit a layup to give Westmont a 47-34 lead with 11:55 to play.
But Biola roared back to life and used an 18-6 run over the next eight minutes, cutting the lead to one on a three-pointer by Cody Wittick with 4:26 left.
Westmont hit a pair of free throws and made a fast break layup to quickly stretch the lead back to five with 3:32 to go. But the Eagles answered with a layup by David Cline to again make it a three-point game.
But that would be as close as the Eagles would get the rest of the way. One minute later, Christopher Miller hit a three-pointer which started a 9-0 run over a three-minute stretch as the Warriors quickly stretched the lead back to 12 at 66-54 with just under a minute to go and cruised from there.
Westmont would end the game on a 15-5 run over the final three minutes of the game to pull out the road win.
After failing to hit a three-pointer in the first half, Biola connected on 5-of-10 attempts in the second half and shot 48.3 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes. But Westmont hit 58.3 percent from the field in the second half and added 11 points from the free throw line.
Westmont held a 42-24 advantage in rebounding with 11 of those coming on the offensive glass. Those rebounds led to 14 second-chance points for the Warriors.
Cline led the Eagles with 13 points and added a team-high six rebounds. Kyle Bailey came off the bench to score 11 points while Mike Kurtz and Dakota Anderson each added 10.
Drungys scored a game-high 16 points for the Warriors while Christopher Miller added 13 points. Copper Damron had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for Westmont.
