The PacWest Conference Northern California champions and PacWest Conference Southern California Champions traveled all the way to Northeast Colorado for the teams' first head-to-head meeting of 2021, and this game did not disappoint.

"We're just fortunate to get the win. It could have gone either way," said head coach Dr. Dave Holmquist. "We're happy to be playing another day. It was just a hard-earned win over a very good team."

Biola was powered by 20 points and 12 rebounds from Alex Wright and also had standout efforts from Jesse Elrod, Chris Rossow and Maximo Milovich (12 rebounds, 11 points) to outlast an incredible individual effort from FPU's Aamondae Coleman and get the win.

Coleman scored 15 second-half points to help Fresno Pacific outscore BU over the final 20 minutes, and he would end the game with a game-high 26 overall. It was no shock, considering he led the league in scoring this season (20.1), but it was a bit shocking since he had to play the final nine minutes of the game with four fouls.

Biola was in control of the contest for most of the evening, even leading by as much as 10 with eight minutes left to play. Despite that, there was nothing separating these two sides in this game's instant classic ending.

The Sunbirds nearly managed to steal a victory on the merit of free-throw shooting. Biola was just 7-for-12 from the stripe tonight, including a pair of misses that set up FPU's chance to tie or win in their final possession. On the other side, FPU went 18-for-21 at their free chances to keep things interesting.

For Fresno Pacific the bug-a-boo was turnovers. The Sunbirds coughed the ball up 14 times over the course of the 40 minutes, helping Biola score 15 points-off-turnovers.

"It was an ugly game all the way through," said junior guard Alex Wright. "But at the end of the day, we got what we needed."

The Sunbirds began the game shooting the ball well, scoring on three of their first four possessions to open up a 8-0 advantage. 

They extended that lead to 13-4 by the time the game got to its first media timeout and Holmquist had his chance to settle down the troops. From that point on, Biola made seven of its next 10 shots from the field to go on a 15-4 run and take the first lead of the game at 19-17.

Biola would never again trail in the first half, oftentimes using the three-point shot to keep just enough distance between them and the opposition over the final 11 minutes of the frame. The Eagles made all four of its first-half triples in that final 11 minutes.

Fresno Pacific began the second half on a 15-8 run to turn Biola's five-point lead into a two-point advantage for FPU. Unfortunately for the Sunbirds, they made just one of their next eight chances after taking that lead back, which allowed BU to storm out to its largest lead yet at 67-57 with a tough bucket from Elrod.

Big mo' then shot it's allegiance back to the FPU team as Biola had a cold stretch of its own (2-for-9) and all of a sudden it was a one-point affair once more at 71-70.

Milovich made it a bit more comfortable with a hook shot to lock in points 10 and 11 on the night and clinch his first-career double-double. Biola went up 73-70 and then things got a bit sloppy as the two teams combined for just seven total points over the final 3+ minutes.

The Eagles were just 1-for-4 from the charity stripe inside of the final minute, but Holmquist's side did JUST enough on the defensive end to lock in the Biola win.

BU finished the game with a 41-35 advantage on the boards, including a +10 margin in offensive rebounds (13-3). Wright and Milovich combined for nine of those 13 offensive rebounds while helping the Eagles to 12 second-chance points. Wright (12) and Milovich (12) accounted for one-third of the total rebounds in the game.

Biola shot 42 percent from the floor, which was its lowest tally in a month, but that didn't stop five different players from reaching double figures for BU. Elrod (13), Rossow (13) and Bagatourian (11) joined Milovich and Wright.

Rossow was the mastermind behind a bunch of the buckets recording seven assists, which is his most in the last three times out. He added five rebounds and two steals to cement his resume on an all-conference season.

Whitten Dominguez, Rossow and Alex Wright all played 38 minutes or more in this one. Dominguez was the one to pull down the final rebound of the game on the FPU side which helped pave the path to victory for BU. He was also the one to tap out the inbounds pass on the final play.

The tournament win lifts Biola to 10-3 on the season and sets them up for a Saturday evening second-round matchup against the No. 2 see Colorado School of Mines (16-2). Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT.

"My mindset is it is their [Mines] home gym," said Wright. "We now have a game on our belts in this gym. They are going to be a better team than FPU. I'm happy that we had this game (against FPU)."

"It's just a nice feeling. Right now there's the thrill of it, but we have a game the next day," said Holmquist. "I feel relieved and just excited that we get to play another day."

The game will be available to watch live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/csm/. Live stats will also be available (check tomorrow for the link).