LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It was a game that was never really in doubt, but one that still had all the intrigue and suspense you hope for when you attend a sporting event. Especially one where the two teams have over 50 years of history against one another.

This meeting between Biola and Fresno Pacific saw Biola turn a really strong start into a narrow 73-69 victory over the Sunbirds, helping the Eagles improve to 63-27 all-time vs. FPU.

"We know we're going to have a tough game every night," said senior guard Trevor Treinen. "We have a tough league. We try to stay composed and not get too high or too low when we're up or down. I think we did a great job of that tonight."

The Eagles, more specifically Treinen, scored the first six points of the game to get off to a quick advantage. They maintained that lead until just about seven minutes in when a five-point run from the visitors caught them up at 12-12.

FPU took the lead for a few minutes with a Nehemiah Allen layup followed by 109 seconds where neither team could manage a point. Finally, a Treinen jumper at 9:13 knotted things at 16 and sent the game on its way again.

The Eagles would outscore the Sunbirds 22-12 over the next eight minutes to grab its largest lead of the game at 38-28. Who scored that bucket? You guessed it, a Treinen three-pointer. Biola's senior scored 19 in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting to give the Eagles a 38-30 lead at the break,

Biola also made six three-pointers in the first half (6-of-13), which is more than their season average for entire games. It's more threes in one half than the team made in the final three games (combined) of its recent NorCal road trip.

Michael Bagatourian was a big reason BU was more successful than usual behind the arc. He was 3-of-3 from deep in the first half and ended up 5-of-6 from distance for the game. The five made threes is a new career-high and matches his total from his freshman year.

The fast start Biola had in the first half was mirrored in the second half by the visiting Sunbirds. Instead of scoring the first six points of the half, FPU scored the first 12 points and made their most serious attempt to steal the game by taking a 42-38 lead. They did so with style too, grabbing their final points of the run on a fastbreak bucket that forced an early coach Holmquist timeout.

They held their lead for a handful of minutes again until a Bagatourian three-pointer helped Biola tie it up at 43 with 13 minutes and change left on the clock.

The Eagles would take the lead for good at the 11:57 mark. They pulled ahead 46-45 and then got a Christian Carroll three-pointer about a minute later to make it a four-point lead that would grow as large as nine and get as small as two but never again be relinquished.

Biola seemed to have the game on ice with just 11 seconds left after Alex Wright sank both free throws to extend the advantage to 71-63.

However, FPU's Elijah Hill scored a pair of threes in the final 10 seconds of the game to hand the ball back to Biola with just a two-point lead at 71-69. The Eagles were able to beat the press and catch Treinen wide open in his offensive half. Treinen chose an emphatic wide open dunk over dribbling the ball out and brought the game to its final point tally of 73-69.

Treinen would end up as the game's leading scorer with 25 points. Four Eagles hit double digits, with Bagatourian ending with 19, Alex Talma finishing with 10 and Wright adding 10 of his own.

Aamondae Coleman was the leading scorer for the Sunbirds, notching 21 points on 50 percent shooting.

Biola improves to 10-8 (6-6 PacWest) with the win. FPU ends their brief road trip 0-2 and moves to 8-10 (5-8 PacWest).

"I think tonight we played two great halves. We're going to emphasize that as we go back out on the road and I think we can do that," said Treinen.

The Eagles head out to Hawaii next with their week-and-a-half road trip coming before their return home against Concordia Irvine on Feb. 12.