Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola picked up its 12^th win of the season on Tuesday night, grabbing a convincing 71-50 win over UC Merced after taking the lead five minutes into the game and never again surrendering it.
 
"It was an enjoyable night, especially because everybody got a chance to play," said Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist. "There are a lot of things we have to improve, but I think we will. I've liked our energy in practice the last couple of days, so I think we're going to just keep getting better."
 
The Eagles had one of their most efficient defensive outings of the season tonight, holding the Bobcats to 50 points off 31 percent shooting from the floor, helping maintain their rank as the No. 2 team in the NAIA in opponent's shooting percentage. The Bobcats 50 points are the second-fewest a team has posted against Biola this season.
 
Biola utilized its forwards well in this one, getting 36 points in the paint, mostly from Steve Herve and Mike Kurtz, who both had strong offensive outputs, nine points each, in limited minutes.
 
Kurtz is the man who made a layup five minutes in to give Biola its first lead of the game at 10-8. It was Dakari Archer who scored the basket to break the 10-10 and put Biola ahead for good. Archer was the third player to tie for the team-lead with nine points in this one. He was 3-5 from the field and 3-3 from the line in his 27 minutes.
 
The Eagles also saw great performances from its bench players, who saw a ton of time on the court in this one. Thirty-one of Biola's 71 points came from bench players, with Jola Otubu leading the way with eight points, four rebounds and two steals. All eight of Otubu's points came in succession as he scored Biola's 19^th through 26^th points.
 
"Jola's got good, quick hands. He makes things happen on the court, and it was good to see him do well tonight," said Holmquist.
 
Biola had 11 steals in this one, but that number was matched by UC Merced that had the advantage in takeaways, claiming 19 Biola turnovers. However, the Eagles made up for those turnovers by dominating the glass and swatting away ball after ball from the undersized Bobcat team.
 
The Eagles outrebounded UC Merced by 15, 49-34, and posted eight blocks, a new season-best. Mike Kurtz led the way with four blocks, followed by Herve's two and one from both Grant Corsi and Connor Getting.
 
"Tonight was a really fun one. It was not picture-perfect basketball by any means, but I think we're going to keep improving," said Holmquist.
 
The win gives Biola two straight and improves them to 12-3 on the season, dropping the Bobcats to 1-14. Biola continues its non-conference schedule with a 3:30 p.m. meeting with Pacific Union (5-8) inside Chase Gymnasium tomorrow afternoon.