Men’s basketball made its presence known in Chase Gymnasium on Tuesday night’s 31-point blowout of West Coast Baptist University. Biola was one point shy of reaching triple digits when the buzzer sounded, as the game ended with a final score of 99-68.
Senior forward Alex Talma picked up his third consecutive double-double of the season, leading all scorers with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Michael Bagatourian contributed 14 points of his own, along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the night. Senior guard Trevor Treinen tallied 13 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists for his first double-double of the season, and freshman guard Alex wright chipped in with 11 points and 6 rebounds.
“I don’t think we were too focused on offense so much, we were trying to focus on our defense,” Talma said. “Defense is just such a focus for us, so we are just trying to play the best we can as a team.”
EARLY OFFENSE SETS PACE
The Eagles came out with a quick 9-0 run to set the pace for the rest of the game. The West Coast Baptist Eagles put their claws in the game with a 9-2 run of their own, keeping the score close early on. Biola struggled at first to keep up with West Coast Baptist’s sharp shooting.
“There were about ten minutes in the first half that we got lazy on defense and our shot selection wasn’t very good, but then the second group came in about midway through the first half and did a nice job of playing defense,” said head coach Dave Holmquist.
The Eagles were down 23-15 when Talma took the game into his own hands with a personal 6-0 run. Senior forward Steve Herve got the crowd fired up with a slam dunk, and Treinen kept the energy alive with a dunk of his own that guided the Eagles into a 43-32 lead at the half.
TREINEN, TALMA TAKE OVER
Biola kept their momentum going into the second half. Treinen stole the ball early in the half, resulting in a quick two points. Shortly after, Treinen fed the ball to Talma for the give-and-go bucket. The Eagles continued to sink basket after basket which helped them maintain 56.2 percent shooting from the field.
The Eagles quickly began to pull away as their defense shut down West Coast Baptist’s offense. Biola continued to dominate on the offensive end, pushing their lead to 86-60 right before Holmquist pulled his starters with four minutes left. Holmquist let the third string ride out the rest of the game and seal the win for the Eagles.
The Eagles will continue nonconference play against Saint Katherine University on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Chase Gymnasium.
