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The Official Athletic Site of the Biola University Eagles

Scoreboard

Alex Wright defending a three
George Rodriguez
61
Biola BIO 10-6,6-4 PacWest
69
Winner Concordia (CA) CUI 13-4,7-1 PacWest
Biola BIO
10-6,6-4 PacWest
61
Final
69
Concordia (CA) CUI
13-4,7-1 PacWest
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Biola BIO 24 37 61
Concordia (CA) CUI 40 29 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Not Our Night, But Still Alright

An immediate nine-point advantage ends up being enough for CUI to defend its home turf.

IRVINE, Calif. --- It's hard to win in the PacWest Conference when you get less than 40 minutes of peak performance. Cold starts have been a bit of a bugaboo for Biola in its biggest matchups this year and Thursday night at Concordia Irvine was no different. CUI scored the first nine points of the game and would go on to win by around the same margin in a 69-61 game.

Biola went over five minutes without scoring a point and didn't hit the double-digit mark until there was already only 6:25 left in the first half. By that point, the home team had already built up a 16-point lead at 27-11.

Concordia held that 16-point lead until the halftime break, taking advantage of double-digit Biola turnovers and a sizable rebounding advantage to make eight more field goals than BU in those first 20 minutes.

The early advantage for CUI was built by solid defensive efforts from Head Coach Ken Ammann's team each time down the floor. Biola didn't get more than three "open" looks in the whole first half.

After a three-possession stretch which saw Biola turn the ball over once, miss back-to-back three-pointers and give up back-to-back fastbreak slam dunks to Concordia, the hosts took a convincing 58-41 lead and seemed primed for a full repeat of the first-half dominance. 

Biola had different plans.

The good Eagles were now dominating the glass at both ends, turning a -6 rebounding margin into a +15 advantage, and also had the good fortune of Concordia Irvine having a down night from the free-throw line.

Biola outscored CUI 20-8 between the 7:55 mark and the :14 mark to get the game respectable once more. Michael Bagatourian, Alex Wright and Marquise Mosley were all very active in the late scoring as the team leaders stepped up.

Bagatourian even played over a minute with no shoe on his right foot. He lost it on the offensive end and had to quickly get back on defense. It laid in the middle of the floor before a player tossed it to the Biola bench. 

After a few possessions went by a player tossed it back to Bagatourian mid-stride and the junior forward slid it right back on his foot in live play and scored the very next basket. It was the basket that actually cut Concordia's lead to single-digits for the first time in over 30 minutes at 2:34. Biola gave up zero points in all the shoe-less trips down the floor.
 
The Eagles ended the game shooting just 33 percent (23-for-69), which is a new season-low. Biola has been in the 30s in three of its last five ballgames. 

Bagatourian led the team with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting. Alex Wright wasn't as efficient on the offensive end but still came away with a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. He was a big reason for Biola's success at the free-throw line, going 5-for-5 there. BU hit 14 of its 15 foul shots while the opponents hovered around 50 percent most of the game, before finishing 16-for-27 from the stripe.

Marquise Mosley (10) and Solomon Ruddell (10) both also hit double figures. Ruddell's minutes in the second half were a big reason Biola was able to cut into the CUI lead. He cut down a bunch of Concordia's open scoring and passing lanes from the first half and also rebounded the ball really well on both ends (4off/7def).

Despite the strong finish, the loss stings just as much for this Biola team that's alternated wins and losses in each of its last eight times out. We'll hope the trend continues on Saturday night at Azusa Pacific.

The Eagles travel to the Cougars in the first Cornerstone Cup matchup of the 2019-20 season. It's a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. The Cornerstone Cup rivalry series is brought to you by West Coast Sand & Gravel.
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