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Scoreboard

Michael Bagatourian being defended
George Rodriguez
90
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 16-3,11-2 PacWest
79
Biola BIO 12-9,8-7 PacWest
Winner
Azusa Pacific APU
16-3,11-2 PacWest
90
Final
79
Biola BIO
12-9,8-7 PacWest
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Azusa Pacific APU 50 40 90
Biola BIO 42 37 79

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

A Game Worth The Hype

Biola had a tough loss at APU two weeks ago. Hopes were high that we'd have a good one at Chase - and we got one.

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The game lived up to the hype. Biola was in it until the very end and the full house of Biola and Azusa Pacific supporters confirmed the excitement by staying locked in from start to finish.

The Cougars managed to complete the season sweep by taking a 90-79 victory, scoring 50 points in the first half and hitting 14 three-point shots on the night. Although the game finished with a double-digit win margin and one team (APU) led for 38:53 seconds, it definitely didn't feel like things were ever too far out of reach for the hosts.
 
Azusa Pacific used the exact same formula as it used two weeks ago to beat Biola by over 20 out in the Felix Event Center. They relied on big man and likely PacWest Player of the Year Selom Mawugbe to drop 19 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks and got contributions from their dangerous stable of guards that can really light it up from the outside.

The three-point shot was the most frustrating part of the first half for Biola. APU hit nine of their 14 triples over the course of the first 20 minutes, led by Ben Taufahema who hit three of his own including two back-to-back late in the half. The vocal senior guard hit both right in front of the student section for Biola and was not afraid to let them hear about it either.

Those two makes made it 45-36 and then 48-36, capping off a quick seven-point run from APU that took it from a five-point affair all the way out to a 12-point Cougar lead.

It was looking like the lead would stay at double-digits headed into the halftime break, but sophomore spark plug Whitten Dominguez came up with a steal and buzzer-beater shot to send the gym into an absolute frenzy and allow BU to go into the break down just 50-42.
 
The Cougars got out to a strong start to half two and had the lead all the way up to 15 points within the first six minutes of the second period. Two of those points came off a thunderous alley-oop converted between Noah Bundrant and Mawugbe, which made it a 56-44 game and had things beginning to look bleak for BU. 

Thankfully, the Eagles cracked down on defense and even got a highlight dunk of their own during a 17-6 run between 14:04 and 8:41 to cut the Cougars' advantage down to just four. 

Biola did most of that damage inside of the painted area, seeing Michael Bagatourian really go to work down low, getting a putback dunk from Solomon Ruddell and creating contact to draw fouls and cash in on free throws.
 
The Eagles had APU in foul trouble all night long and made the most of it, getting 20 of their 79 points from going 20-for-25 from the free-throw line.

APU got its lead back up to double digits with just over four minutes left to play and then the two teams traded points for most of the rest of the game, keeping it between 10-11 point difference throughout.

Mawugbe and Taufahema led the charge for APU with 19 points a piece. Biola had the game's leading scorers in Bagatourian (22) and Chris Rossow (20). Rossow was deadly, going 6-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the line. 

Jesse Elrod also had a great shooting night by going 6-of-8 overall to chalk up 14 points. He had the unpleasant experience of having to try and score around or over Mawugbe all night long and coped well.

Marquise Mosley, on his 23rd birthday, also managed 14 points and tied for the team lead with three assists.
 
Everything else about the game was pretty even between these two sides. The Cougars shot a few percentage points better from the field and hit nine more three-point field goals, which equates to the difference in the final score.

The Eagles can hang their hat on their effort though. They were in the game from start to finish and turned the ball over only five times the whole night (a new season-best). That is especially admirable considering how loud and boisterous the traveling student section from APU got at multiple points on the night.

The loss puts Biola into a bit of a tough spot in the PacWest standings, now just one game over .500 in league play at 8-7. The team is 12-9 overall and will hope to take advantage of its upcoming road trip to Holy Names (6-13, 4-9 PacWest) and Academy of Art (7-14, 5-9 PacWest) to get some forward momentum once again.
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