LA MIRADA, Calif. --- For 34 minutes of Saturday's 100-64 victory over West Coast Baptist Dr. Dave Holmquist's Eagles shot over 65 percent from the floor. The 100-point output was the team's highest total of the season and it came courtesy some absolute dominance down low.
Biola scored 49 points in the paint, which is by far a new season-best, and pulled down 21 more rebounds than their opponents from Lancaster. The home team ended up with 48 rebounds in the contest, which is also a season-best. Forty of those rebounds came on the defensive end, where West Coast Baptist shot just 33 percent.
Keeping true to form, the visitors shot 36 of their 63 field goal attempts from behind the three-point line and rushed most of them due to a rapidly closing out Biola defense. WCBC came into the day with 51 percent of their total field goal attempts coming from deep. The home Eagles keyed in on this and held their opponents to just 22 percent shooting from distance.
"It feels really good to get the win today," said freshman forward
Isaiah Jones. "You know, we're coming off a five-game losing streak, so it feels really good to get that winning spirit in our blood."
Biola also did well to limit the production of West Coast Baptist's top scorer. Daniel Foster, who averaged 20 points-per-game coming in, ended up with 18 points, but was held to just 1-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc.
On the other end of the floor it seemed as if just about everything was going in from start to finish for a rejuvenated Biola offense. Five Biolans ended up scoring in double-digits and the team did end up shooting 58 percent for the game. The bank was open down low, but also from distance as BU went up over 10 made three-point shots for the fourth time this season. They made 11 triples, paced by three from Trevor Treinen.
Isaiah Jones and Alex Talma stood out as the biggest and best point producers on this day. Jones picked up another double-double by pouring in 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. It is the second double-double of the season for the freshman.
"It was good to get back to the flow of things after a long break," said Jones. "We played more as a team and played well together. We moved the ball around a lot and it felt really good."
Talma bruised his way to 18 points on an impressive 8-of-11 shooting/layup/dunk performance. Six of those 18 points came on some rim-rattling throwdowns courtesy great lead passes by his teammates. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and a block in a solid all-around effort.
Great lead passes were happening all around this day as the home Eagles ended up with 22 assists. That's second-most on the season for BU. Blake Shannon, Jr. led that effort with a cool seven assists in 24 minutes. He also added eight points as a very selective 3-of-4 shooter.
Treinen would end with 17 points, Michael Bagatourian had 14 and Zach Roetcisoender came off the bench with 10 to round out the double-digit scorers. Roetcisoender had a very productive 11 second-half minutes where he got his 10 points, pulled down a pair of rebounds and added perfect free-throw shooting.
Biola trialed 3-0 15 seconds into the game and then never trailed again as it finished its non-conference season with a 6-2 record. The Eagles are 6-7 overall and now West Coast Baptist drops to 3-12 on the season.
Holmquist's squad heads out on the road now for three-straight away PacWest Conference contests. The team begins in Utah at Dixie State this Wednesday, but the marquee matchup is a Cornerstone Cup battle at Azusa Pacific at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
"That's the game. Azusa Pacific, that's the one. Yes, sir," said Jones.
The Eagles and Cougars renew their storied rivalry inside of the Felix Event Center. General admission tickets are $12 and can be purchased online at http://aputickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event_listings.asp. Discounted tickets are available at the door.
