AZUSA, Calif. --- After a thrilling nine-point win over higher-seeded Concordia Irvine in the opening round on Thursday, Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist's team continues their quest to a tournament title with a semifinal game against No. 1-seed Azusa Pacific (25-3, 20-2 PacWest) on Friday. 

Friday'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.

It's the first meeting between these two sides since the soldout Cornerstone Cup matchup inside of Chase Gym back on Feb. 1. Azusa Pacific took both games of the season series, outscoring Biola by at total tally of 177-145. The more recent meeting was much closer than the earlier matchup, despite the two meetings being separated by less than two weeks. 

Azusa Pacific comes into this tournament ranked No. 6 in all of NCAA Division II. The Cougars are the no. 2 team in the west region, second only to No. 4 UC San Diego (28-1).

What makes this Cougars team so hard to beat is how good they are on the defensive end and the sheer volume with which they make threes. They are top-15 in the nation in three-point field goal attempts per game and also three-point makes per game (11+). The first time these two sides met, APU drained 16 three-pointers - led by an 8-for-11 effort from newcomer Brennan Rymer. Rymer earned all-conference third team honors this season, being a major difference-maker in altering the style of play for this APU program.

Of course, you cannot look at a matchup with Azusa Pacific and not talk about the big man in the middle. The Cougars' Selom Mawugbe was the absolute unquestioned PacWest Conference Player of the Year this past season. He leads the nation in field goal percentage and is second in blocks-per-game. His presence is what opens up a whole lot of open shots around the perimeter for his teammates to knock down.

Mawugbe averaged 22 points-per-game against Biola in the two meetings this season, shooting the ball an incredible 77-percent clip. 

APU's defensive average of 68 points-per-game allowed is the tops in the conference and among the top-30 in all of NCAA Division II. That, combined with the effective offense gives APU a top-10 mark in terms of average scoring margin.

It's a tall task to keep a game close against the Cougars, with a scoring margin of +14.8 on average. Biola averaged -16 against APU in the two meetings this year. But, it's playoff time and you never know what could happen.

During its recent five-game winning streak, the Eagles have scored 84.4 points-per-game and given up 73.8 ppg. That's seven points better than BU's season average on the offensive side and about one-point worse on the defensive end. 

Azusa Pacific was picked to finish second in the PacWest Conference this season, with three head coaches choosing APU first in the PacWest Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. 

The Cougars far exceeded their expectations for the year, dealing with a key injury and transitioning to a first-year head coach with zero let-up in terms of performance. Having Mawugbe still in place played a major factor in that, and limiting his access to the basket will be key in keeping the game close tonight.

The All-PacWest teams were released on Wednesday, with Biola represented by a second-team selection for Michael Bagatourian. Azusa Pacific, as you would expect, highlighted the PacWest teams. Mawugbe was player of the year, Peter Bond was coach of the year, Jake Spurgeon joined Mawugbe on the first team and Rymer was on the third team.

Spurgeon started all 28 games for the Cougars and was a good running mate for Mawugbe. Neither player had more than 28 minutes-per-game, but they didn't need a heavier workload because APU was busy blowing teams out. Spurgeon averaged 13.0 points-per-game and 5.6 rebounds-per-game to help lead the team.

Biola has won five in a row entering Friday's competition. Azusa Pacific knows a little something about winning streaks. The Cougars have won 20 in a row, dating back to Dec. 6, 2019.

A win for Biola would advance them to the PacWest Tournament Championship game scheduled for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. 

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 p.m., following the other semifinal game between No. 3 seed Chaminade (18-10, 15-7 PacWest) and No. 2 seed Point Loma (22-6, 18-4 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/.