LA MIRADA, Calif. ---- From start-to-finish Tuesday night's effort was the most complete of the young PacWest Conference season for Dr. Dave Holmquist's Biola Men's Basketball team. The Eagles dropped the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans by a score of 74-56 to earn their seventh consecutive victory. It's also Biola's third-straight win over UHH.
"We played with more energy and effort tonight," said Holmquist. "That was our best game in terms of our intensity level. Everybody that played played really well, with a lot of focus. It was a really good team win for us tonight."Â
Slow starts had made things a bit dicey for this Biola team through its first two PacWest Conference matchups of the year, with Biola needing second-half comebacks in both games to get wins in the Bay Area.
There was no slow start in the friendly confines of Chase Gym on Tuesday night as the Eagles' defense held the Vulcans to just 17 first-half points, setting up a relatively straightforward victory. Biola scored 36 points of its own in the first half, powered by 11 points and three assists from junior forward Michael Bagatourian.
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"The key to our strong start is the focus we had during practice yesterday and walkthrough today," said Bagatourian. "We were all locked in and focused on the gameplan and ready to play hard."Â
Bags was critical all night long for Biola, having one of the best nights of his Biola career (if not THE best), with 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists spread across 35 minutes on the court. He also had zero fouls and just one turnover in a remarkable effort. The 14 rebounds and eight assists are both career-highs.Â
"Michael had a really nice night," said Holmquist. "He played a very good all-around game. He did a bit of everything for us tonight and helped us get off to a good start in the first half."
"I was only able to play well because the rest of the team played extremely well," said Bagatourian. Â
Hawaii Hilo actually outscored Biola over the final 20 minutes (39-38), largely riding the work of their center Sasa Vuksanovic who ended with a team-high 17 points, while also taking advantage of eight second-half turnovers by the Eagles.
The Vulcans pulled as close as 11 points at a few different points in the second half, but they never quite got Biola's lead down to single digits. Coincidentally, right when Biola began to expand the lead again happened when the team stopped turning the ball over. All but two of Biola's second-half turnovers came in the first 15 minutes of the half.Â
"We had some breakdowns in the second half, but I thought overall we played really hard," said Holmquist. "I was really happy with our commitment to defense and rebounding tonight."
The Eagles scored nine in a row between 4:05 and 1:50 to light a fire under the crowd inside of Chase Gym and put the game away for good with a now 20-point advantage.
Big man Solomon Ruddell was the spark plug for that run. There was a four-possession sequence that was ALL Ruddell. He made a dunk on the offensive end, then blocked the Vulcans' attempt on the other side AND THEN REPEATED THAT SEQUENCE. It was one of the more impressive stretches of basketball inside of Chase Gym in the last decade.
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"It's been a few years since Solomon has really gotten to play, so he's improving each week. He will continue to get better and better and will be a really good player for us."
Ruddell ended the night with eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Marquise Mosley was the team-leader in scoring with 18 points of his own. He shot nearly 60 percent and added five assists and three rebounds in another solid effort. Mosley scored two-thirds of his points in the final 20 minutes, really serving as the catalyst for Biola most of the second half.
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For the third-consecutive game, Jesse Elrod set a new season-high for scoring. The sharpshooting forward scored 17 points in just 19 minutes, being relegated to sitting in foul trouble for a good chunk of the night. His 7-for-11 shooting effort was also a season-best as he really seems to be coming into his own for BU.
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"Honestly everyone who got minutes tonight played great," said Bagatourian. "Everyone did their job and contributed. But specifically, Solomon in that one stretch at the end of the game got two monster dunks and two blocks sealed the game."
Alex Wright rounds out the notables with a seven-point night (taking just five shots), accompanied by a season-high nine rebounds and a pair of steals. Wright and the Eagles were strong on the boards throughout the night, leading that category 54-29.
"The team's effort was amazing," said Bagatourian. "We came out firing and beat a really good team. Hilo didn't quit and came out in the second half and made a run and we were able to keep them at bay."
The only areas of struggle were turnovers (16) and free-throw shooting (just 39 percent). The team will work to get those cleaned up by their next matchup, which is a big one Saturday at defending champions Point Loma (6-2, 2-0 PacWest). PLNU host Hilo two days prior to the matchup with Biola, so the Eagles will play with a bit more rest.
