LA MIRADA, Calif. --- All of Dr. Dave Holmquist's most successful teams have been built on a suffocating defense. This year, we haven't quite seen that trait, at least not until Thursday night. Biola, led by the efforts of Marquise Mosley and Chris Rossow, effectively shut down the Pomona-Pitzer point guard to force turnovers, awkward shots and spoiled possessions from the Sagehens en route to a 66-62 Biola win.

"It was a hard-earned, very good win for us," said Holmquist. "I think the biggest key was the defense from Marquise and Chris. They are a very good Division III team that beat us badly last year. So, this is a nice win."

It was a fantastic bounce back win for this Biola team that allowed 90+ points to Pomona-Pitzer last season, losing by nearly 30. The Sagehens are almost the same exact team from a year ago, returning all but one of their primary rotation players. 

Biola led the game for 39 minutes and 55 seconds, essentially wire-to-wire after a Jesse Elrod jumper got them going following an early Pomona-Pitzer backcourt violation right off the tip-off.

The Eagles got the lead up to as much as 14, which came with just over 12 minutes left in the game. The second half was definitely where most of the action happened after both teams shot under 40 percent in the first half and led to a pretty unenthusiastic 29-21 Biola lead at halftime.

Biola's defense limited the Sagehens' point guard in the early going, but it also did an excellent job of protecting the paint against a Pomona Pitzer team with some good length.
 

MBB: Jesse Elrod elevates for the monster block! Eagles with the lead 9-3 with 14:55 till halftime. (video includes audio commentary describing play) pic.twitter.com/mMrQDngShc

— Biola Athletics (@BiolaAthletics) November 22, 2019

The Eagles, on the other hand, used the painted area to their advantage early in the game. Biola shot only one three-point field goal in the first 12 or so minutes as it built its sustainable early lead.

Fouls were also a big story early on, with the two teams combining to shoot 19 free throws in the first 20 minutes. Those early fouls would come back to haunt the teams down the stretch as both teams had a player foul out. In the Sagehens' case, they had a player foul out with almost eight minutes left to play, forcing some adjustments at both ends.

The second half saw Biola hold its solid lead for the first 10 minutes or so, but the Pomona Pitzer began to heat up from beyond the arc. Pomona shot just 3-of-10 from distance in the first half, but found a smidge more success in the second half.

The key stretch is when Pitzer made three threes in a row between the 6:27 mark and 5:11 mark to take a double-digit Biola lead and slice it down to four at 53-48. 

Michael Bagatourian scored four-straight for the Eagles and then Solomon Ruddell laid one in to get the lead back up again as the game moved into its final four minutes. 

Pomona-Pitzer outscored Biola 13-7 over the final three minutes and 11 seconds, but it was a story of too little, too late for them. An amazing sequence from Alex Wright in those waning minutes keyed Biola's ability to stay out front. 

The Eagles ran a play coming out of a timeout and nailed it as Bagatourian threw a long inbounds pass to Wright right at the logo at half court and Wright went off to the races for a fast break dunk to make it 65-58. He then hustled right back on defense and got a big block to essentially make it a +4 swing for the Eagles in the final minute.
 

MBB: Wright takes the long lob from Bagatourian and dunks the ball emphatically as Biola holds on for the 66-62 victory over Pomona-Pitzer. (video includes audio commentary describing play) pic.twitter.com/ddjJdo2jSe

— Biola Athletics (@BiolaAthletics) November 22, 2019

"All the guys that played played very hard and everyone contributed a lot of good things."

Four Biola players ended up with double-digits, led by Chris Rossow for the second-straight game. Rossow had 15 points on an economical 6-for-11 performance. He made the ONLY three-point make of the game for Biola. The Eagles only took six shots from deep all game.

Bagatourian worked hard to earn 13 points, making five inside shots and going 3-for-4 from the line. Elrod (10) and Wright (10) also had double figures. Elrod was a perfect 6-for-6 from the stripe to make up for a tough shooting night for him.

Wright had seven rebounds to lead the team and retake the team lead for the season. He also had five steals to pace the defensive effort. Biola continues to show a knack for breaking up passes in the early going this season. They average 9.8 steals-per-game this season, which is way up from last season's average of 7.0/game.

The turnovers were critical to the game tonight as Biola scored nearly a third of its point total (21) off of turnovers. The Sagehens committed 19 turnovers on the night, 10 of which were stolen away by BU.

The great defense in the post stayed with Biola all game long, allowing BU to give up just 22 points down low. That's a new season-best and HALF the number of points in the paint that the Eagles gave up last time out.
 

MBB: Solomon Ruddel says no! Not once, but twice in a row with the consecutive blocks: Eagles up 43-29 with 11:45 left.(video includes audio commentary describing play) pic.twitter.com/XRhZWA5IuX

— Biola Athletics (@BiolaAthletics) November 22, 2019

The win makes Biola 2-2 and sends them into their final game of the week looking to extend to a three-game winning streak. A three-game winning streak would tie last season's season-best number for wins in a row.

Next up for Biola is the University of Maine - Fort Kent at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Chase Gym.