The Eagles’ victory against Cal Baptist was their last, as they experienced a shocking departure from the GSAC tournament on Saturday. Illness and injury to Biola’s forwards contributed to the loss against rival Azusa Pacific.
Before the game, junior Josh Miller was diagnosed with a sickness that prevented him from dressing. Sophomore David Cline, Miller’s substitute, was just coming off a sickness as well, and junior Andrew Schroeder was limited to only 14 minutes because of an ankle sprain.
Despite this, the game started out on a positive note for the Eagles as senior Marlon King caught his opponents flatfooted and scored the first points of the period with an impressive layup. Following this, fans went wild as senior Danny Campbell scored two more points with another layup.
Biola earned a 31-25 lead after the first half, but the tide shifted in the next period. The consistent offensive push by APU was starting to get to senior Rocky Hampton. The game headed into Azusa’s direction in the final minutes of the period as the time stopped with a 65-65 score.
Although Hampton had 10 rebounds and a noteworthy 26 points, his efforts weren’t enough to prevent a 76-75 overtime loss. King finished the game with 12 points, and Campbell ended the night with 19 points.
On the other side, Dominique Johnson led the Cougars with 23 points while Reggie Owens added 15 off the bench. Marshall Johnson rounded out the APU scorers in double-figures with 11.
In the previous GSAC game, the Eagles roughed up their opponent, CBU. A star-studded performance from Campbell helped advance his team into Saturday’s GSAC semifinals.
It all started with Freshman Davy Hopkins’ pull-up jumper which gave CBU the first deuce of the game. However, Biola took charge the rest of the period and gained a 12-point lead within 10 minutes of play. The Eagles looked in good shape as they concluded the half by a score of 30-20.
In the next period, the Eagles picked up right where they started. The slight CBU comeback from a 12-point deficit to a 3-point deficit ironically produced the drive Biola needed to finish off the Lancers 65-51.
The packed Chase Gymnasium saw a dominating performance from Campbell that they hadn’t seen in a while. Campbell earned a double-double (20 points and 11 rebounds), and King also got his shine on with 14 points.
CBU could not get anything going offensively, shooting 20-60 from the field and 7-27 from the three-point range. This can be accredited to the Eagles’ match zone defense, which played a factor in keeping the Lancer’s inside game stagnant.
Despite the recent loss to APU, the Eagles are still in good shape to receive one of the top at large berths in NAIA’s National Championship.
