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Biola celebrates win over Azusa Pacific during a semifinal of the PacWest Men’s Basketball Championships in the Felix Event Center at Azusa Pacific University Friday, Mar. 6, 2020, in Azusa. (Mandatory Credit: Frederick Hardy II -Sports Shooter Academy)
Frederick Hardy -Sports Shooter
82
Winner Biola BIO 19-11,13-9 PacWest
79
Azusa Pacific APU 25-4,20-2 PacWest
Winner
Biola BIO
19-11,13-9 PacWest
82
Final
79
Azusa Pacific APU
25-4,20-2 PacWest
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Biola BIO 32 50 82
Azusa Pacific APU 42 37 79

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

One For Forever

Michael Bagatourian's PacWest semifinal game-winning shot adds to the lore of Biola-APU.


AZUSA, Calif. --- Anything can happen when Biola University and Azusa Pacific get together for a basketball game. After Friday night's PacWest Conference semifinal at the Felix Event Center, we now know exactly what ANYTHING looks like.

It was a matchup of no. 5-seed Biola (18-11), happy to be in the PacWest tournament in its first year eligible, vs. No. 6 nationally and no. 1-seed Azusa Pacific (25-3). APU is a team with serious aspirations of a national championship THIS YEAR and came into the matchup following wins in all 20 of their final regular-season games. 

The Cougars looked every bit like a team on a 20-game winning streak when they began the game scoring 20 of the first 22 total points, making this look like a total snoozer off the jump.

But, as it turns out, the game was anything but and when the ball glided out of the hands of Michael Bagatourian with just over four seconds left on the clock 20 years of incredible Biola-APU memories came flooding back with one brand new game-winning basket. The Eagles' junior hit a three to put Biola up 82-79 and send them marching into Saturday's PacWest Tournament Championship game.
 
"It's going to take me some hours to let this sink in," said Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist. "To go down 20-2 and then come back and win like we did against such a talented and well-coached team. I am going to enjoy this over the course of the whole evening. Then tomorrow night we have to go play again."

Bagatourian's shot is the third of a string of memorable first-time moments for Biola shooters against this APU program. The first came 20 years ago as Bryan Weakley spoiled the first game ever inside of Azusa Pacific's crown jewel Felix Event Center. He hit a three-point shot with 11 seconds on the clock to lift Biola to a 62-61 victory.

The next moment came just two seasons ago as Blake Shannon, Jr. provided the spark needed in the first PacWest Conference game between Biola and APU inside of Chase Gymnasium in Feb. 2018. The Eagles were having a tough year and APU was riding high similar to this season, but in front of a sellout crowd Biola's senior point guard drained a triple to put Biola up 73-70 with three seconds to play. Just like tonight, the Eagles would hold onto the win with a strong defensive stand at the buzzer.

Now the third happens during the first-ever meeting between Biola and Azusa Pacific in a PacWest Conference tournament. It makes Biola 2-0 all-time in the PacWest tourney with this being its first year eligible.

"Honestly, [in connection to Biola's history] what was going through my head is that we haven't won since I was a freshman," said Bagatourian. "When we were down 20-2, I was just thinking that this is not us, this is not our team or the way we play."

Now, it will be Bagatourian's name etched into history along those other two Biola legends. But, as Dr. Dave Holmquist is always quick to point out - this is a team game and every win is because of a good team effort.

A great team effort was most definitely needed for the Eagles to dig out of a deep, deep early hole. For much of the game it was last night's leader, Chris Rossow, who provided the spark Biola needed.

"We never quit," said Bagatourian. "We were down 20-2, but Rossow was saying 'we're going to win this game.' We have a really good group of guys."

While the Eagles managed to outscore APU 80-59 over the final 35 minutes of this game, Rossow scored 25 of those 80 points. His 27 total points followed up a 31-point spree he went on during Thursday's first-round game. Against APU, he made nine of 14 field-goal attempts during the final 35 minutes of play to carry the load.

The turnaround for Biola was launched by a quick 16-5 run for Biola between the 15-minute mark and 8-minute mark in the first half. The streak began with a successful and-one three-point play from Rossow and the junior point guard had 11 of the team's 16 during the run. 

That brought the game all the way back to within seven at 25-18. When the Cougars finally did end the streak, it was with one of their signature three-pointers and brought the lead back to double-digits in time for halftime.

Dr. Dave Holmquist's team came out of the locker room with 20 minutes to erase what was a 42-32 APU lead. It would've been larger, but who else other than Chris Rossow hit a three on Biola's final possession of the first half to bring it to that mark.

"My mentality was to just keep going," said Rossow. "Even though the score was not going our way and we were missing shots we usually make my mentality was to just keep going after them. We knew they would fold defensively at some point." 
 
In the second, it took the Eagles less than three minutes to cut the lead down to two points, but the pesky Cougars kept out in front for another five full minutes before Biola could finally grab its first lead of the game. 

Fittingly, a fastbreak layup from Rossow and a made free throw tacked onto that is what gave Biola its 59-58 lead and made it a whole new ballgame with 12:17 left.
 
The game would be tied or lead changed six more times over an exciting final 12 minutes with both Biola and Azusa Pacific holding a lead for one lengthy stretch of time before the game sat tied at 79-79 with under a minute on the clock.
 
A rare miss from Rossow was followed up with an Azusa Pacific layup missed on the other end. It was a signature all-effort rebound from Whitten Dominguez that got Biola the ball back and set up the play that would ultimately win the game. 

Biola inbound to its steadying force Alex Wright, who dribbled and wandered side to side for a few seconds before cutting toward the basket and then dishing off to Bagatourian for the game's ultimate moment.

"We ran that play a few times over the course of the game and there were times a few of my teammates got some good looks off of it," said Bagatourian. "There was a time we ran the exact same play and it came to me and I had a good look and didn't take it. I was lucky Alex Wright gave me a good pass and it went in."

The shot was never a doubter with a trajectory straight through the hoop that swished the twine in the sweetest way possible. It was Biola's seventh made three-pointer of the second half. Dominguez made the first three to help with the early second-half run. He was a big source of disruption for the Eagles throughout the night, scoring 12 points and nabbing five boards while shooting 4-for-5 from deep.

"Everybody has to be aggressive for our team to be successful," said Rossow. "All five guys have to attack the rim, all five guys have to be ready to shoot and make plays. That's the reason we came out with the win."

With four seconds to work with APU found a decent look at the basket on its final possession, but the ball bounced off the side of the rim taking with it APU's hopes of being the first conference host school to win the PacWest tournament.
 
The Cougars will still have the chance to continue their season at the NCAA West Regionals as an at-large berth and will still be considered an early favorite as a top-10 team in the nation.

Biola had four players reach double digits, led by the game's leading scorer, Rossow (27). Bagatourian had 20, Alex Wright finished with 13 points to go with 12 rebounds and Dominguez had his 12. 

"We just had a lot of positivity throughout," said Rossow. "There was no arguing or guys going back-and-forth. We were just staying positive, knowing we were still in the game. We know we can play with anybody. We just had to come out there and show them."

Azusa Pacific led for most of this game and led almost every statistical categories, but come tournament time there's more at play than just what shows up in the box score at the end of the night. This Biola team, a family, accomplished something this group will never ever forget, and you know what - they just might not be done yet. 

"This feels good. At my last school we had a rivalry, but this one right here you can just feel it," said Rossow. "Everybody wants it at the school. The coaches want it. The players want it. For me to come be a part of this - I am grateful for it. I'm grateful to coach for giving me the opportunity to come show what I can do."
 
Biola has its chance at winning a PacWest Conference Tournament title on Saturday in Azusa. The Eagles will face a Point Loma Sea Lions (23-6) team hungry to repeat as champions. The Sea Lions beat Chaminade 83-74 in the first semifinal on Friday. 

"I'll enjoy this win more when I get down the line, but now we're already thinking about tomorrow," said Holmquist.
 
Biola sits at 19-11 overall following Friday's win. If Biola can get a win in the title game, it would be the first 20-win season in the Eagles' short NCAA Division II era.

Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. following the women's championship between Hawaii Pacific and Azusa Pacific. A detailed preview and more game information will be published on Saturday morning.
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