Men’s basketball traveled to Oakland to face the Holy Names University Hawks in the first game of a three game road trip, as the Eagles continued to search for its first PacWest win. After dominating most of the first half, the Hawks jumped out to an early 18 point lead in the second half, but Biola never gave up and the 20 points each from junior guard Trevor Treinen and senior guard Blake Shannon Jr. brought the Eagles back to tie the game. A free throw make from junior forward Alex Talma with two seconds left gave the Eagles the 68-67 win.
BAD FIRST HALF SHOOTING
The first half did not make the Eagles’ job easy. After an even first six minutes, the Hawks started to pull away, leading 32-17 with 2:40 left in the half. Biola ended the half on a 6-1 run to bring the score back to 33-23 at halftime. In the opening half, the Eagles shot a woeful 1-11 from behind the arc and only 24 percent from the field. The only encouragement for the visitors was that the Hawks also struggled, only making 20 percent of their three point attempts and 48 percent of their attempts from the field.
The Hawks came out of halftime looking to deliver the final blow to the Eagles, as they went on a 12-1 run including four straight three-pointers to pull ahead to an 18 point lead with 15:40 remaining. Despite Biola improving its shooting, Holy Names led the Eagles comfortably until 2:53 to go. Down by nine, Treinen and junior guard Christian Carroll hit back-to-back threes to bring the Eagles within one possession. Treinen nailed another three pointer with 1:25 remaining to tie the game at 67.
CLUTCH FREE THROW
The final 1:25 consisted of four combined missed threes by both teams, but Talma grabbed an offensive rebound with two seconds left and was fouled, sending him to the line with a chance to win it for the Eagles. He made one of two free throws to give Biola a 68-67 lead for the first time since 16:46 in the first half. The Hawks missed the full court buzzer-beater attempt, allowing the Eagles to win their first PacWest game.
The Eagles’ second half performance could not have turned out differently than their first half, as the team shot 58 percent from behind the arc and 65 percent from the field. Treinen and Shannon Jr. each scored 20 points in the game and shot a combined 6-14 from behind the arc, while freshman forward Isaiah Jones added 14 more points.
The Eagles finally earn their first conference win, improving to 7-12 overall (1-10 in the PacWest). The road trip continues as Biola travels to Belmont, Calif. on Jan. 27 to face Notre Dame de Namur at 7:30 p.m.
