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Senior Night 2022 Biola Men;s Basketball
George Rodriguez
71
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 16-7,13-3 PacWest
70
Biola BIO 19-6,13-5 PacWest
Winner
Azusa Pacific APU
16-7,13-3 PacWest
71
Final
70
Biola BIO
19-6,13-5 PacWest
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Azusa Pacific APU 31 40 71
Biola BIO 35 35 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Fire Still Burns

The Biola and Azusa Pacific rivalry is alive and thriving with another classic installment Saturday.

LA MIRADA, Calif. — Senior Day is always sweet, but its even sweeter when it falls against your archrivals and gets to be in front of a capacity crowd roaring with pride for a group of young men who've elevated this program to new heights in the last three-to-five years.

On Saturday the Red Sea was out in full force, albeit wearing white, to support Michael Bagatourian, Jesse Elrod, Chris Rossow, Whitten Dominguez and Solomon Ruddell as the took one last trip around the hardwood in a crucial game inside Chase Gymnasium.

The way the chips fell did not favor Biola at the end of the day, as the visitors did just enough to earn a 71-70 victory, but that didn't stop great memories from being made. The loud crowd got one last chance at home to see some clutch Bagatourian mid-range jumpers, precision passes and acrobatic makes from Rossow, a handful of timely Dominguez triples and a textbook trey by the big-man Elrod.

Biola surged out of the gates, taking an almost immediate 8-2 advantage over Azusa Pacific and leading by as many as 13 early in the first half. Then, APU's shooters began hitting their outside shots, especially Trevon Ary-Turner, and the Cougars dispelled any thoughts of a quick, easy and sweat-free victory. 

APU had the game back within four points by the 11:41 mark in the first half and stayed within single digit distance of the Eagles all the way through until halftime when Biola went into the locker room with a 35-31 advantage.

The Eagles would grow the lead back out to seven at 46-39 when Elrod hit a pair of free-throws, but then the Cougars dug in and found their fight. Biola was stuck on 46 points for just under four minutes as APU went on a 13-point run to turn the seven-point deficit into a six-point advantage as the game crept into its final 12 minutes.

Nine of those 13 points were off the three-ball and the other four points came from super sub Sasha French. Those four points were two-thirds of the big man's total output on the evening (6 points), but they came at the time his team needed him most and put a major damper on the outlook for Biola.

The Eagles would never again regain the lead as APU led by as many as eight and as few as one during a thrilling final 12 minutes. Biola seemed all-but done when down by six and with almost nothing flowing on the offensive end with a bit over two minutes left. 

Rossow made a tough mid-range floater and then drew a foul and made them both to get it back within two points, though at exactly the 2:01 mark.

The man of the night for APU, Ary-Turner used the next possession to score a fastbreak bucket and get the buffer back to four. 

Rossow again knocked it down to two with 30 seconds remaining to keep it within a possession for Biola with Terrance Becvar headed to the line to shoot two. It was likely two of the toughest free-throws of his life, while he had to focus through the entire Biola crowd chanting "airball, airball" at him. This chant followed him all night long after an early miss.

Becvar converted them both and again put Biola in a challenging spot down four with the shot clock off. After a rare Rossow miss, Biola got the ball back and Dominguez made the crowd explode by hitting the three-ball to make it 71-70.

A foul on the other end sent Justin Hemsley to the line to shoot two with 1.5 seconds on the clock. He missed the first, then intentionally missed the second to force a timeout-less Biola to throw up a prayer as time expired.

Maximo Milovich did his best from ¾ court, and only really missed the rim by a few inches, but that was enough to lock in the win for APU and spoil at least the latter-part of the night for BU.

Rossow finished as the game's leading scorer with 24 points and he also had five assists and five rebounds. Alex Wright (13) and Bagatourian (12) also hit double-figures for BU. Bagatourian used his senior night to tie his career-high with eight assists. 

The Eagles were 12-for-14 from the free-throw line, which helped them keep close to APU, which went just 5-for-15 in that category. The Cougars, though, had the five-percent advantage in field goal percentage and made four more three-pointers than BU to overcome the charity stripe woes.

It didn't go the way the Eagles would draw it up, but it was still another classic edition of this storied rivalry. There is no doubt the fire is as strong as ever between these two sides. It's a fire that could be rekindled again in just two weeks at the PacWest Basketball Championships in Fresno.  
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