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Whitten Dominguez playing good defense
Adam Washington
68
West Coast Baptist WCBC 0-4
99
Winner Biola BU-MBB 3-1
West Coast Baptist WCBC
0-4
68
Final
99
Biola BU-MBB
3-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
West Coast Baptist WCBC 32 36 68
Biola BU-MBB 43 56 99

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Good Hair Day

Alex Talma changes things up up top and goes off for a new career-high.

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- As of about 10 minutes into Tuesday night's game over West Coast Baptist, Biola Men's Basketball had officially shaken off any of the shooting woes that plagued it on opening weekend.

Biola went up 9-0, then gave up a 23-6 run to lose the lead and face a significant margin, before ultimately bouncing back, doubling down on defense and earning a big 99-68 win over the visiting Eagles' team.

"We had a stretch of about eight minutes where we stopped playing defense and did not have good shot selection, but other than that over three-quarters of the game we did some good things," said Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist.

Alex Talma was one of the Eagles who had a tough time making shots last weekend, shooting just 30 percent in Biola's loss to CSULA. That Talma was nowhere to be seen tonight as Alex had one of the biggest games of his three-year career at Biola.

The New Zealand import went 9-of-12 from the floor and did not miss a single free throw attempt (6-for-6) in piling on a career-high 24 points. Talma was also a beast on the boards, bringing in 11 rebounds to record his third-straight double-double to start the year. It's five-straight such games dating back to the end of last season.

Rebounding was key for Biola all throughout the night, helping the team overcome some early struggles from the field and early turnovers. The home team had a 55-19 (+36) advantage off the boards, led by Talma's 11 and eight from Steve Herve.

The +36 margin is the most by Biola in any one game since it brought in 42 more than Northwest Indian College in December 2016. Tonight's rebounding effort made a huge impact in the game as Biola tabbed 24 second chance points, while WCBC had just three.

The game was not all sunshine and daisies, as mentioned above. Biola trailed from the 14:34 point all the way until the 8:33 point in the first half. It took a run of 10-straight points, eight coming from Talma, to pull Biola back out in front at 25-23.

After they took the lead then the Eagles never trailed again, outscoring WCBC 56-36 in the second half to end up just one point shy of hitting the century mark. It would've been the second-consecutive game against West Coast Baptist where they hit 100, but it was not meant to be.

"I thought we settled down, made some good changes, picked up our intensity and did a good job in the second half," said Holmquist.

A Jacob Mata cutting layup was the final points on the board for BU. It was two of five for Mata as he and Tyus Dennis led the second unit in a strong showing over the final four minutes of play.

Trevor Treinen orchestrated Biola's strong second half. He had four points in the first half, but added nine in the final 20 minutes, while also dishing out six assists and three steals to set up his teammates.

"I thought Trevor did a really nice job in the second half," said Holmquist. "He provided some leadership with the way he played. He really kept us focused and did some good things."

Treinen (13), Michael Bagatourian (14) and Alex Wright (11) joined Talma as Biola's double-digit scorers. Levi Auble continued to be a big help as the first man off the bench. The senior forward was 4-for-4 shooting for eight points in 13 minutes.

Overall, the Eagles' bench counted for exactly one-third of Biola's total points (33).

"A lot of guys chipped in with some good contributions," said Holmquist. "We are going to have to play a lot better than we did for parts of today for they games we have coming up, and we know that."

Biola (2-1) will host Saint Katherine (1-6) on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. That game follows a women's contest against Tarleton State (Texas).
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