Biola declawed the Cougars on Tuesday night, taking advantage of a listless Azusa team that appeared uninterested in defending their home floor. The Eagles ran up a quick lead, built an 11-point advantage at halftime and never looked back while rolling to a 76-54 victory.
The Eagles found their foundation in their defense, holding Azusa to 42 percent from the field, and limited top scorer Dominique Johnson to five points, down from his 18.3 average, while holding highly-touted All-GSAC center Dave Buress scoreless.
It only took Biola two and a half minutes to jump to an 8-0 lead, which led to Azusa taking a quick timeout to stop the bleeding. The Cougars scored the next four points, but that would be the closest APU would get the rest of the night. On a night when every Biola player scored, the Eagles could have gone scoreless for the last 8:28 of the game and still walked away with the victory.
Biola seemed to score almost at will in the paint, consistently driving past defenders on the perimeter for layups or dump-offs for easy points to Biola big men junior Rocky Hampton and sophomore Josh Miller, who made 12 of 17 shots for a combined 34 points, and also teamed up for 16 rebounds and five blocks. Sophomore guard Nate Rakestraw continued his strong play, contributing in all aspects with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
The raucous, 2,000-strong Azusa crowd had the wind knocked out of them by the fast Biola start and became increasingly subdued as the lead grew. Biola fans were in full throat however, finding inspiration in motivated performance of their team and outshouted the Azusa crowd despite being vastly outnumbered.
The win over Azusa drastically helps Biola as they continue to struggle for a postseason berth, bring them into a third-place tie with Azusa in the GSAC with a record of 9-5. The previous third-place team, Cal Baptist, lost on Tuesday night, dropping tdown into fifth place.
With six games remaining, Biola must continue to win to hold its lucrative position in the top four. While all but assured a spot in the eight-team GSAC tournament barring a late-season meltdown, the Eagles will need to work their way into the top two spots to get an invitation to the national championship tournament. Blocking their path will be the only teams Biola has not beaten this season, Fresno Pacific and Concordia.
The Eagles return to action Saturday night against San Diego Christian at 7:30 p.m. in Chase Gymnasium.
