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The Official Athletic Site of the Biola University Eagles

Scoreboard

Csusm
CSUSM Athletics
57
Biola University BU-MBB 0-1
84
Winner Cal State San Marcos CSUSM 1-0
Biola University BU-MBB
0-1
57
Final
84
Cal State San Marcos CSUSM
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Biola University BU-MBB 38 19 57
Cal State San Marcos CSUSM 47 37 84

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Second Half Sinks BU In Opener

Biola competes well with one of the top teams in the west for a half.

SAN MARCOS, Calif. --- The new era of basketball began for Biola University on Friday night, and that is something to celebrate. The Eagles came up short in an 84-57 loss at CSU San Marcos, but after a long wait BU is officially playing games in the NCAA Division II.

The Cougars hosted Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist's squad in game two of their CCAA/PacWest Conference Challenge tournament and shot the lights out in their new Sports Center to earn the win.

CSUSM was a tough opponent as they're coming off an 18-win campaign and celebrating their first season as full-fledged postseason eligible NCAA Division II winners.

Biola got off to a bit of a slow start, allowing the home team to open up a 16-8 lead within the first five minutes and then it was just uphill sledding from that point on as they took one step forward before suffering two steps back until the score settled at it's nearly 30-point difference.

Despite the loss there was some good to celebrate. One positive note was the Eagles' first-half shooting. Holmquist's team went 16-of-29 (55%) from the field in the first 20 minutes to keep the Cougars close at 47-38. The problem was CSUSM went 15-of-26 (57%) and had five of their buckets come from beyond the three-point line.

Another positive was the standout performance by freshman Michael Bagatourian, who led all Eagles with 29 minutes on the floor. He ended with 11 points, which came on 50 percent (5-10) shooting from the floor and a perfect 1-for-1 from the charity stripe. The lanky three-man added five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals in a good all-around effort. Included in that effort was a successful three-point play on a drive to the hoop and an alley-oop layup fed from Blake Shannon, Jr.

Shannon was the standout player of the first half with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. However, he was held without a point in eight second-half minutes. Part of that can be attributed to not being 100 percent ready for the wear and tear of a long game as the senior PG missed the last few weeks of practice with injury.

Junior Trevor Treinen ended the contest as the team's leading scorer, finishing with 13 points, powered by nine in the first half. A lot of the Eagles' offense came on the strength of that first half as they could muster up just 19 points on 25 percent shooting in the second.

Biola can walk away feeling as if it can bounce back pretty well from this loss. Poor shooting nights (or halves) happen and tend to be more of a blip on a radar than a true indicator. A few more shots from distance at the next practice may be in order as Holmquist's side was just 7-of-23 (17%) from out there, a far cry from last year's average of around 40 percent.

The Eagles outrebounded the Cougars 33-30 and put up two blocks while avoiding being blocked at all by their opponent. That's a positive in the hustle stats, but a -5 turnover differential had the opposite effect.

We'll see how it all shakes out tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. as the Eagles (0-1) face No. 7 Chico State (0-1). The Wildcats were upset by Concordia-Irvine 82-78 earlier on Friday.

Watch that game live at csusmcougars.com/watch.
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