FRESNO, Calif. — Of course it comes down to this. 

Grab your popcorn, folks.The conference semifinal stage is set, and for the second-consecutive occasion one semifinal will feature the Cornerstone Cup rivalry between Biola Men's Basketball and Azusa Pacific.

If the game turns out to be anything like the 2020 edition, we are all in for a treat.

See more about today's thrilling matchup below.

PREVIEW: Biola vs. Azusa Pacific - PacWest Conference Tournament Semifinals
Date: March 4, 2022
Time: 12:30 p.m. Tip-Off
Location: Fresno, California (FPU Special Event Center - Masks are Required)
Tickets (MUST be bought online in advance): https://thepacwest.com/sports/2020/12/7/GEN_1207205334.aspx 
Live Stream: https://team1sports.com/fpusunbirds/
Live Stats: https://www.fpuathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Tournament Central Website

Biola Men's Basketball (No. 3 seed) faces Azusa Pacific (No. 2 seed) on Friday in Fresno for a chance to return to the finals at the 2022 PacWest Conference Men's Basketball Championship. The winner of this game will face either No. 1 seed Point Loma or No. 4 seed Academy of Art in the championship Saturday at 2 p.m.

Friday's 12:30 p.m. tip-off will feature the 21-7 Eagles against the 19-8 Cougars. It's the 12th time these programs will play in a postseason contest against one another. The first meeting was in 1972. It's the 118th all-time meeting. APU leads the series 63-54 and won both regular season games this year.

The most recent contest between these two came less than two weeks ago as Biola welcomed Azusa Pacific to a filled-up Chase Gymnasium for senior night. The Cougars used the three-ball as their primary weapon to escape with a 71-70 victory and remain as the regular season title favorites.

Trevon Ary-Turner was the thorn in Biola's side in that game, shooting 7-for-11 overall and 5-for-7 from distance to lead APU with 19 points scored in just 21 minutes. The Cougars are a balanced bunch, relying on 10 different men to play between 16 and 24 minutes in the game to get the job done.

Biola, conversely, places heavy emphasis on getting its production from a small rotation of 7-8 key producers. The Eagles shot just 43 percent (which is low for this team) and couldn't keep up from beyond the arc to complete a comeback.

The three-ball all but disappeared from Biola's attack in their conference-tournament opener against Concordia University Irvine on Wednesday as BU shot 1-for-7 from deep in the first half and then only attempted four total threes in the final 20 minutes.

The Eagles will need more production from distance to keep up with APU on Friday afternoon. Azusa Pacific has 66 points off the three-point shot (22-for-56) in its two meetings vs. Biola this year, while the Eagles have scored just eight three-point makes and attempted almost half of what the Cougars have.

This makes sense as Biola traditionally does not rely on the three-pointer, despite being effective and making them. The Eagles are shooting threes at a better clip than their opponents this year (.341 to .320), but the Eagles are making much fewer per-game on average (6.4 to 8.3).

If Biola will have success from beyond the arc it will have to be a combination effort from Jesse Elrod, Alex Wright and a little Whitten Dominguez. Chris Rossow can shoot from out there, as evidenced by his team-leading .427 field goal percentage from deep (35-for-82). However, the Biola offense relies on Chris driving to keep it dynamic so it's unlikely for him to end up as the difference-maker from deep.

Azusa Pacific enters this game coming off a hard-fought 87-72 victory over the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans in their first-round matchup Wednesday.

Azusa Pacific tallied five three-pointers in the game's first 10 minutes to take an early 19-16 lead.The Cougars won the battle of the boards by a wide margin (43-25) and dominated second-chance points (14-0). APU hit 11 three-pointers in the win, it was the 16th contest of the year with 10+ three-point makes. Biola has five such contests.

Ken West and Hayden Gray were holding down the offensive load for the Cougars in the game against Hilo, combining for 36 of APU's points. Biola held that pair to 25 total points between the two meetings in the regular season this year. Keeping them at bay and slowing down Justin Hemsley, who's had two good outings against BU will be key on defense.

See below for a general statistical comparison between Biola and APU for 2022.

 

APU	Category	Biola
75.1	Scoring	78.1
67.0	Defense	71.2
.454	FG PCT	.484
.372	3-PT FG PCT	.341
.783	FT PCT	.706
35.9	REBOUND	39.2
13.7	ASSISTS	16.2
6.4	STEALS	5.4
2.4	BLOCKS	2.6
12.7	TURNOVERS	12.4
10.0	3-PTM/GM	6.4
+4.9	REBOUND MARGIN	+7.3
+8.1	SCORING MARGIN	+6.9
.533	OPP WIN PCT	.512

All-time Postseason meetings (BU - APU)
3/6/20 - Biola 82-79 (PacWest Semis)
3/6/10 - APU 76-75 OT (GSAC Semis)
3/5/02 - APU 80-66 (GSAC Finals)
3/6/01 - APU 75-68 (GSAC Finals)
3/10/98 - APU 62-59 (GSAC Finals)
3/1/95 - APU 105-73 (GSAC 1st Round)
3/6/93 - APU 67-60 (NAIA Dist. Semis)
2/28/89 - Biola 89-56 (NAIA Dist. 1st Round)
3/9/79 - APU 47-46 (NCCAA Regionals)
2/27/78 - BU 67-58 (NAIA Dist. 1st Round)
3/6/72 - APU 60-48 (NAIA 1st round)

*APU leads all-time series 8-3