NO. 4 CONCORDIA IRVINE MEN'S BASKETBALL | Roster | Stats | Schedule
NO. 5 BIOLA MEN'S BASKETBALL | Roster | Stats | Schedule

HEAD-TO-HEAD: 1/16/20 BOX SCORE | 2/27/20 BOX SCORE
AZUSA, Calif. --- In its first season eligible Biola Men's Basketball did enough to earn a berth to the PacWest Conference tournament for the first time. Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist's team begins their quest to a tournament title with a first-round game against https://cuieagles.com/sports/mens-basketball on Thursday. 

Thursday's game is scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. tip-off and will be held at the Felix Event Center in Azusa. General admission for the tournament is $12 with pre-sale tickets are available for purchase online for both general admission single tickets and all-tournament passes. Fans can purchase tickets online if they wish and print them at home to present at the door. 

Student tickets are available for $5, cash only at the door. Children 12 and under receive free admission.

Biola and Ken Ammann's Concordia Eagles will meet for the second time within the last eight days to open the PacWest tournament. Biola hosted CUI for its Senior Night inside of Chase Gym last week on Thursday.

Biola got a 77-63 victory that set up this opening-round matchup. Had CUI managed a win in that one, the Eagles of Irvine would've topped Chaminade in the standings to secure the three-seed and face ART U in round one.

Instead, Biola got a trio of double-doubles and a 21-point night from Alex Wright to make the road much, much tougher for Concordia Irvine. Biola built the big night with excellent shooting throughout to outscore CUI by eight in the first half and six in the second half for a 14-point advantage by the end of the game.

Biola shot 52 percent from the field and dropped in 15 free throws in 20 tries, while holding CUI to just 34 percent from the field. 

The two teams split the season series, with CUI winning their meeting inside of CU Arena in Irvine, 69-61. The season split is indicative of how things have gone between these two sides for much of the last 10 years. The two teams are 17-17 against one another in games dating back to the start of 2011. Biola controls the all-time series 31-21.

Concordia Irvine was picked to win the PacWest Conference title this season, with eight head coaches choosing CUI first in the PacWest Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. 

They haven't quite lived up to those lofty expectations this year, with two of their eight losses coming to teams who did not qualify for the PacWest Conference tournament. Two of their six remaining PacWest losses came against the No. 5 seed (Biola) and No. 6 seed (ART U). The other four losses came against the No. 1 (APU) and No. 2 (PLNU) seeds. 

Biola had one more conference loss than CUI, and one more loss to non-tournament teams (Hilo, HNU, HPU). BU was picked to finish fifth in that preseason poll. Impressively, all six tournament teams were picked in the top-7 in the preseason poll.

The All-PacWest teams were released on Wednesday, with Biola represented by a second-team selection for Michael Bagatourian. Concordia Irvine managed a pair of all-conference selection as transfers Rob McCoy and Andre Green both landed on the second team alongside Bagatourian. 

McCoy averaged 13 points-per-game and six rebounds-per-game in his first season at CUI after time at a JuCo and Portland State. Green was a bit more familiar to Concordia Irvine, coming directly to CUI after spending time as multiple-time all-conference player at Holy Names. Green averaged 11.6 points-per-game this season and is a big reason CUI averages nearly 10 steals-per-game, picking up 50+ of his own. Biola dealt well with both players this season, holding them to single digits in the home win last week and making them shoot just 8-for-20 even in the loss at CUI.

Both teams will be without key players from the regular season. The read and black Eagles will miss point guard Marquise Mosley and the green and yellow ones are missing junior guard Jalen Sanders.

Biola has won four in a row entering Thursday's competition. Concordia, meanwhile, have lost each of its last three.

A win for Biola would advance them to a semifinal meeting with the No. 1-seed Azusa Pacific (25-3, 20-2 PacWest) on Friday at 7:15 p.m. 

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 p.m., following the other first-round game between Chaminade (17-10, 15-7 PacWest) and Academy of Art (12-17, 10-12 PacWest). The game will be streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/pacwest/. Complimentary live stats will also be published at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/pacwest/.