Box Score IRVINE, Calif. --- Two is the magic number. For the second time in as many days, No. 4 Biola overcame a second-half deficit to earn a victory over a NCAA Division II counterpart.

This one was a wild one as the Eagles went toe-to-toe with the two-time defending champions of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Chico State Wildcats, on the second day of the Concordia-Irvine basketball tournament.
 
A missed free throw from the Wildcats with :00.3 left on the clock is what helped the Eagles escape Irvine with a 2-0 weekend record following an exciting 59-58 victory over Chico State.
 
The win helped Biola continue its perfect start to the 2016-17 season and dropped to Wildcats to 1-1 overall. Chico just began its season with a come-from-behind victory over the defending PacWest Co-Champions Concordia-Irvine yesterday.
 
For the second day in a row Biola got off to an incredible start as Dr. Dave Holmquist really had his troops ready to play. The Eagles scored the first seven points of the ballgame, just as they did yesterday against CSU San Marcos, and the hot start made a huge difference in what would turn out to be a one possession game.
 
Again, for the second day in a row, that hot start was squandered by some troubles in the middle of the first half as Chico State would ultimately pull ahead to a 33-26 lead at the halftime break.
 
The Wildcats snagged the lead at the half because of its strong rebounding advantage in the first period of play. The two teams had nearly identical shooting percentages and percentages from beyond the arc, but the Wildcats had more possessions to take advantage of because of a 15-9 rebounding advantage and 7-6 turnover edge.
 
Chico State had a very evenly distributed offensive approach through the first 20 minutes with four different players having at least five points scored.
 
The Eagles' strongest piece in the first half was its free throw shooting. Biola went 5-of-6 from the line (86 percent) to take advantage of their ability to draw more fouls than Chico State
 
The Wildcats kept the pedal to the metal early in the second half and maintained a seven to eight point lead through the first four minutes or so, but after the 16-minute mark Holmquist's Eagles began to soar.
 
A Trevor Treinen jumper brought the Eagles to within five points at the 16:10 mark, and then, in true Biola fashion, the game shifted to a complete defense-first focus on both sides. Neither team put a point on the board between 16:10 and 13:24, but when the scoring finally restarted it was Dakari Archer at the center of the action.
 
Archer's layup bucket began one of the best stretches of basketball this team has played all season long as over the next 8:45 the Eagles would outscore Chico State 21-5 to claim itself a 55-44 lead and seemingly run away with the contest.
 
The Eagles were up by 11, playing fantastic, and only needed to make it four minutes and 39 seconds to seal a sixth victory of the season. Make the most of each possession and run down the clock a bit and that should be easy, right?
 
No.
 
Chico State would make four of its next eight shots, including three relatively easy layups, and took full advantage of four Biola turnovers to cut the lead all the way down to two with 14 seconds left on the clock.
 
Biola had possession and a chance to extend its two-point lead as Jeff Gonzalez went to the line shooting two with five seconds left. The usually reliable big man, and Saturday's leading scorer (20 pts), missed both free throws and setup the most important possession of the game as the time ticked down and Chico State had a chance to win it with a three.
 
Instead the Wildcats opted to throw up a jumper inside of the arc and were able to successfully draw a shooting foul that sent them to the line with :00.3 seconds left and a chance to tie the game with two makes.
 
Michael Bethea, the Wildcats' leading scorer (15 pts) missed the first shot and sealed the Biola victory. Chico was just 5-of-12 from the charity stripe, which made a huge difference in the outcome.
 
Biola improves to 6-0 and gets through the toughest two days of its 2016-17 preseason schedule unscathed. The Eagles return to action this Wednesday evening in a road contest at Pomona-Pitzer. It is the final of four straight games away from Chase Gym.