The Biola Eagles faced up against a formidable opponent on Valentine’s Day, the Hope International Royals, and came away with broken hearts. The Royals went into Saturday night’s matchup 9-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play, good enough for second place in the conference, trailing only Concordia. Biola came in representing the sixth spot in conference with a 4-7 record. The last time these two teams met, Hope crushed the Eagles in a resounding 65-40 victory in Biola’s gymnasium. This time, Biola went on the road, looking for revenge.
The Eagles played exceedingly well in this game, taking a two-point lead into halftime. In the first half, they shot 37 percent for both three-point and overall field goals. They continued the hot shooting into the second half, improving their percentage to 40.63 percent. Unfortunately, after a very shaky first-half offensive performance from the Royals, they came back and beat the Eagles in three-point and field goal percentages, at 50 percent and 28.57 percent respectively.
The difference in this game came from the charity stripe, as Biola only went to the line five times, converting four of them into points. Hope, on the other hand, went to the line 17 times, sinking 12 of them. Even though Biola went into half with a two point lead and did a good job of stopping Hope’s offense, they committed a few too many fouls, which cost them the game.
Senior guard Pierre Zook and sophomore guard Dakari Archer had huge nights for the Eagles offensively, combining for 38 of the Eagles 55 total points. They took turns dominating each half, with Zook scoring 17 of his 21 points in the first half. In the second, Archer took over, scoring 16 of his 17 total. Zook and Archer carried the team and senior forward Mike Kurtz following close behind with seven. Kurtz contributed in other ways, getting three blocks and 11 rebounds.
In the first half, the story was all about Zook. Biola went into halftime with 24 points, and Zook accounted for 17 of them. He went 7-10 from the field in the first half, including draining three of his five three-point shots. Even though Zook was red-hot, the rest of the team was ice-cold. The seven other Eagles who played in the first half took 17 shots, but only made three of them, giving Biola a total of 10 made shots and a 37 percent field goal percentage. Despite shooting a significantly worse 25.7 percent from the field, Hope was able to hang on because they made nine of their shots as well as two more free throws than Biola. At the end of the first half, the scoreboard read 24-22 in Biola’s favor.
Entering the second half, it was Archer who came alive, scoring 16 of Biola’s second half total of 31 points. The game stayed close for its entirety, with the largest lead coming in the second half when Biola went up by seven points with 10:37 left on the clock. Hope refused to go away, however, and kept clawing back. Biola was barely able to hold the lead until 2:26 left on the clock, when Hope hit two free throws to take the lead. The teams traded baskets for a few minutes, until Hope was fouled again and made two more free throws, giving them a four-point lead with seven seconds left on the clock. Archer hit a three pointer with three seconds left to bring the lead to one, then fouled again to stop the clock. Hope made the first, but missed the second, giving Biola the chance to win with a last-minute three pointer. Zook took the shot with two seconds left on the clock, but the ball bounced off the rim, shutting down the hope for an upset by Biola.
With this loss, the Eagles move to 4-8 in GSAC play and 16-10 overall. Their next opponent is Concordia, the top team in the conference, in a home game Tuesday Feb. 17 at 7:30 pm.
