LA MIRADA, Calif. — Oh, what a night! Biola Men's Basketball dug deep to erase a 20-point halftime deficit on Thursday night in a thrilling 85-76 victory over the visiting Dominican Penguins.
The Penguins shot a ridiculous 10-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half to grab a 54-34 lead, but heroics from Cameron Brown and an eye-popping all-around performance from Tyus Parrish-Tillman led to the Biola fans heading home happy.
"This was amazing. It was really a team effort at heart," said Cameron Brown. "This win feels amazing, but we gotta move on. We are battling for our lives for the playoffs.
The historic win goes a long way towards preserving postseason chances of the men's team, who improve to 9-10 in league play with the gutsy win, while their opponent falls back to 10-9. The come-from-behind win helps Biola save a series split against the Penguins this year, which could prove crucial in a tight PacWest battle.
The Eagles only turned the ball over seven times in this game, and Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist's squad out-shot and out-rebounded the visiting Penguins in half number two in order to turn this game on its head.
"Our coaches got on us at halftime - down 20 - but that is kudos to my teammates, not backing down from anything," said Brown. "That's a great team win. We needed it and let's keep it up for these next three games."
Biola out-scored Dominican 53-22 in the second half, powered by 20 points from Brown, a 15-for-18 team effort at the free throw line and six steals playing a role in 11 second-half turnovers from the Penguins.
Brown finished with 30 points total in this one. It's his second time this season reaching 30. The other occasion? When he went for 31 points in Biola's win over Vanguard, which happens to be the team Biola plays on Saturday. Brown's 11 made field goals on Thursday night push him into first in the league in made baskets.
"[My success] is all from God, from work, from my teammates trusting me and giving me passes. I appreciate them for letting me rock out," said Brown.
One of those teammates who had a monster impact on how this one turned out is Tyus Parrish-Tillman. The Eagles' big man had another consistent scoring effort, with 16 points coming off a mix of inside scoring, outside scoring, and 7 made free-throws.
Aside from his personal scoring, Parrish-Tillman was involved in seemingly everything on both ends of the court. He ended with eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. The seven assists are a new career-high. The three blocks adds to his conference-leading pace of 2.29 per-game, and keeps him in the top-15 nationally. He's now up over 100 blocks in his Biola career.
"Tyus Parrish-Tillman is one of the best teammates I've ever had," said Brown. "That kid worked so hard to battle back from injury, he does this on a consistent basis. It takes a lot of pressure off of me."
In addition to limiting turnovers, Biola was disciplined all around with just 13 fouls called against them over the 40 minutes. The standout there was again Parrish-Tillman, who only drew the eye of the referees one time in his 36 minutes of very hard work.
The difference in fouls and free throws ended up proving important to Biola's ability to secure the win. Coach Holmquist's team made 19 free throws in 24 opportunities while Domincan could only get nine points at the line.
Charlie Gehler was Biola's third leading scorer with 15 points, while Garrison Sherman hit double figures for the second time this season with 11 points off an impressive 5-for-6 effort. All but two of Gehler's 15 points came in the second half.
Biola is down to three regular-season home games left. Up next is a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Vanguard (13-11, 9-9 PWC) on Saturday night.
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