LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Men's Basketball nearly doubled up its opponent on Saturday night as it topped the 100-point threshold for the first time since December 2017. The Eagles handed the University of Maine-Fort Kent a 104-53 beating behind a solid team performance.
Over the past two nights, the Bengals of Fort Kent have had the unfortunate happenstance of being outscored 207-109 by Westmont and Biola.
"It feels really good to pick up a big win and stay undefeated at home," said sophomore guard
Whitten Dominguez. "It's definitely a good victory with a lot of momentum that we can build off of for Monday's game, which is an important one since we want to stay undefeated at home leading into thanksgiving break."
UMFK hung around for a bit as Biola had some early trouble finding its shooting stroke. The home team missed four of its first seven looks from the floor, allowing the game to be 7-5 within the first four minutes or so and it was just a 13-11 lead for BU six minutes in.
But, once BU began hitting some shots with regularity it was all over for the Bengals very quickly. Since Biola went into halftime with a field goal percentage of almost 60 percent, you could guess what the scoreline looked like.Â
Biola's defense held UMFK without a point from the 14:06 mark to the 7:14 mark, while its offense went to work to build a 36-11 lead thanks to a 23-0 run. By halftime that lead ballooned from 22 points all the way to 36 points as the Eagles led 59-23.Â
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The Eagles' offense was successful practically any place it looked, but it was more noticeable at the three-point arc. Biola made seven threes in the first half, which is more than the total number of three-point shots it took the last time out. Biola would end the game with 11 total made threes, with Whitten Dominguez stealing the show with a 4-for-7 performance from deep.
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Slowing scored a bit in the second half, but the Eagles still outscored their opponents 45-30 over the final 20 minutes even with the starting five sitting out nearly the entire period.
The subs went to work and worked very well, again being led by Dominguez and the Eagles' center Solomon Ruddell. Ruddell led all scorers with 23 points and was a remarkable 9-of-10 from the field. He added a season-high five blocked shots to five rebounds for a well rounded night.
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Dominguez (18) and Zanen Zeller (10) were also among the team leaders in points, with both men playing right around 25 minutes off the bench. Dominguez ended 6-for-9 from the floor and Zeller was also efficient at 5-for-9.Â
"It felt good to shoot well and make a solid impact offensively," said Dominguez. "Obviously, a huge part of that was because of my teammates passing and being so unselfish. They got me a lot of good looks and it just worked out that I was able to finish a lot of them."
Zeller and Chris Rossow tied for the team lead with seven rebounds a pop. Zeller, in particular, really impressed with his tenacity around the basket, both on offense and defense. He and Michael Bagatourian both finished the ballgame with more O-boards than defensive rebounds.
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Bagatourian continued his stretch of double-digit scoring efforts, dropping in 15 points in 19 minutes.Â
The thing that made the Biola offense so powerful tonight was excellent passing all night long. The Eagles piled up 29 assists, which is 10 more than their previous season-high. The team also only committed seven turnovers, including just one turnover in the entire first half.
"It's awesome to have such a great assist-to-turnover ratio and fun to watch all the guys be unselfish and want to see everyone do well," said Dominguez. "It was a great team environment where everyone got involved and every player was happy for one another."
Marquise Mosley, who was excellent in his 17 minutes, led the team with six assists and didn't cough the ball up once. He had nine points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with that.
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On top of all that great stuff, this team only committed nine fouls all night long, which is also a new season-best. As anticipated, Biola dominated every phase of the game, leading in points off turnovers (38-10), second-chance points (20-8) and had a remarkable 60 bench points.
The win makes three in a row for Biola and sets them up to close out the non-conference season with an undefeated 4-0 home record if they can pick up a W next time out. The Eagles (3-2) host Saint Katherine (2-5) on Monday night at 7 p.m.
