LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Men's Basketball began a busy week on the right foot Tuesday night when it handed the visiting Hawaii Hilo Vulcans a 79-63 loss to pull back to .500 in conference play once again.
The win allows Biola to complete the season sweep of the Vulcans, a team BU lost to by 25 points in their lone meeting of the 2017-18 season.
For Dr. Dave Holmquist's group it was a great way to get back in the win column after two tough losses last week where they had to watch late leads slip through their fingers.
This go-around the Eagles never let the Vulcans get closer than within seven points in the second half and finished real strong, scoring 12 of the game's final 16 points.
"It was a good win. I'm glad we bounced back so well," said Holmquist. "Hilo is a good team with talented players. It was very pleasing that we were able to make the plays down the stretch."
Biola controlled the game for pretty much the entire 40 minutes, making their first four shots of the game and nine of their first 13 overall to hold a 22-11 lead less than nine minutes into the game.
That lead would hold pretty steady for much of the first half until the teams went to the locker room with a 44-31 lead.
The Eagles held Hawaii Hilo to 38 percent shooting and Alex Talma, Trevor Treinen and Alex Wright all had double-digit scoring in the first half for BU. The Eagles would shoot 56 percent in the first 20 minutes to cruise to their substantial halftime lead.
"Trevor, Talma and Levi Auble did a real good job of putting up some points for us," said Holmquist. "Alex Wright also handled the ball really well, especially against the press. He's really improved in that area since Christmas."
The press was put on frequently throughout the second half, but Biola proved well prepared for it. The Eagles guards only committed three turnovers in the whole second half, despite immense pressure from the Hilo defenders.
Hawaii Hilo scored 14 out of 16 points between 14:09 and 8:02 in the second half to really cut into the Eagles' lead and bring it as close as it would get at 60-53. The Eagles had a well-called timeout right at the end of that run and then scored the next two baskets to open it back up to a 12-point lead with seven minutes left on the clock and then managed to hold steady throughout.
"When we played there it was clear they were a great team. They went up on us by I think 19 an we came back and won," said Treinen. "It was obvious that they were going to come out for revenge. We kept our composure tonight. Overall we played great and everyone had a great spirit tonight."
Auble made a big impact, particularly late in the second half, to wake up the Eagles' scoring after the brief drought. The senior poured in 12 second-half points on 6-of-8 shooting to double the second-half output of any other Eagles' scorer.
Auble would end the game with 16 points, which was second only to BU's birthday boy Trevor Treinen who put up 19.
"I thought everyone that played contributed something. It was a good team win," said Holmquist. "We made some mistakes, but we made far more good plays in this second half."
Talma (15) and Wright (12) would also score double figures for BU. Wright also led the team with 10 rebounds to record his first career double-double. Rebounding was an area of strength for BU tonight as they managed to outrebound the Vulcans 42-28. Nine of those rebounds came from Steve Herve who had a solid night in 25 minutes off the bench, scoring seven points and getting a pair of blocks.
The win pushes Biola to 13-11 overall and helps them improve to 9-9 in PacWest Conference competition. Their toughest test of the week is coming up next as they host RV Chaminade on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. The 19-5, 12-5 PacWest Silverswords come in following a 77-75 victory over Azusa Pacific on Tuesday night.
"We just want to finish by having fun," said Treinen. "We've had a great season so far and made a lot of progress. We are looking to end on a good note."
