The Biola Athletic Department announced Tuesday that both men’s and women’s basketball will play games against rival Azusa Pacific University this December for the 2012-2013 season.

The Eagles and Cougars have been rivals for the last 19 years since Biola joined the Golden State Athletic Conference and have met twice a year with APU leading the all-time series in men’s, 53-47 and the lady Cougars leading 42-35.

The women’s teams will play on Dec. 3 at Biola at 7:30 p.m. and the men’s teams will play Dec. 7 at Biola at 7:30 p.m.

For next years 2013-2014 season, the teams will travel to Azusa to play a doubleheader for both men’s and women’s.

"We are excited to continue the rivalry with Azusa Pacific University," Biola athletic director and men's basketball head coach Dave Holmquist said in a press release. "It has been the biggest non-Division I rivalry in California for many years. Even though we no longer play in the same conference, the significance of the game won't change."

Both Biola’s men’s and women’s teams won last year in what was the last GSAC game between the two teams. Both games were down-to-the-wire thrillers that had Chase Gymnasium bumping. Now that APU has moved from the NAIA to the NCAA’s Div. II, they will be competing with former GSAC schools such as Point Loma Nazarene University, Fresno Pacific University and California Baptist University.

"We wanted to continue playing Biola simply because it's such a great experience for both campuses," Azusa Pacific men's basketball coach Justin Leslie said in the same release. "Even though we're excited to develop new rivalries in the PacWest, we're also glad we were able to keep such a unique rivalry going, and we look forward to bringing Biola back here next year."

Link to Biola Athletics Press Release:

http://athletics.biola.edu/news/2012/9/18/MBB_0918120340.aspx