The men’s basketball team suffered their first road loss and second season loss on Dec. 6 to William Jessup University. The Warriors made nine of their 11 second-half three-point shots to bury the Eagles 75-56.
“Basically I think that we didn’t come out to play,” said sophomore guard Dakari Archer. “We weren’t ready to face the type of intensity that they brought out from the start. We took quick shots and we weren’t playing defense.”
Biola kept pace with the Warriors for the first half. Freshman guard Sal Carlos led the Eagles with six points and three rebounds.
“[I was] just working hard and doing what my coach tells me to do,” said Carlos. “Just playing within my game and not doing extra things.”
Senior forward Mike Kurtz also had six points and two rebounds for the Eagles. Biola entered the half down 24-28.
“I felt like that we stopped playing hard in the second half,” said Carlos. “We weren’t competing to our potential and they just took advantage of it and they ran away with the game.”
The Eagles were outscored 32-47 in the second half, due in part to William Jessup’s 27 points off of 81.8 percent three point shooting. Biola also turned the ball over 14 times in the second half compared to the warriors’ six. Freshman guard Steele Douglas led the Eagles with six second-half points in five minutes. The Eagles lost to the Warriors 56-75.
“I just feel like we have to get better defensively, especially in transition,” said Carlos. “They killed us in transition buckets especially on three pointers. We just have to step it up and talk more.”
Twelve games into the season Biola holds a season record of 10-2, two wins better than their last year record of 8-4.
“This season I think that our bench is a lot more supportive,” said Archer. “Everybody is more in tune to the game. It’s very exciting to play once you know your bench is behind you. You’re not just hearing it from the crowd but you’re also hearing encouragement from the bench. I think that’s one thing that’s a plus for us.”
14 of Biola’s 18 remaining games are against conference teams. The Eagles currently stand 1-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference and will look to gain momentum going into the second half of the season.
“Our mindset is to just keep working hard and never give up,” said Carlos. “We’re just a very hard working team that doesn’t let up. It’s just one game and there’s many games to go in conference. We should just forget about it, and like coach says, on to the next game and the next play.”
The next game is at home against Arizona Christian University on Dec. 13. The Firestorm holds a 5-2 season record and have beaten Biola in all of their last four encounters.
