Men’s basketball ended Thursday night at Chase Gymnasium with another blowout win against Saint Katherine University. The Eagles created a comfortable lead early in the game and flew over the Firebirds with a final score of 90-53.
Senior forward Alex Talma led the team in scoring with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Trevor Treinen put up 14 points, shooting 3-4 from the three-point line. Freshman guard Alex Wright contributed 12 points and sophomore guard Michael Bagatourian ended the night with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.
EARLY OFFENSIVE GAIN OVERWHELMS SAINT KATHERINE
Biola came out strong against a full-court press from Saint Katherine. The Eagles played smart on both ends of the court, resulting in dominance on the floor. Wright set the pace for Biola with two back-to-back three pointers that helped contribute to the Eagles quick 19-2 run to start the game.
“I think we just showed our great chemistry tonight, we shared the ball really well, we got it moving on defense…We just got a lot of good open shots and we’re going to hit those,” Treinen said.
Later in the half, Talma fed the ball to senior forward Steve Herve, who finished with a slam dunk, and a few possessions later Treinen swung the ball to Bagatourian, who got the crowd hyped with a second dunk. The Eagles continued to gain a considerable lead, sinking shot after shot to put them up 48-21 at the half.
EAGLES TAKE OVER
Biola seemingly could not miss a shot and continued to build their lead in the second half. But it was not just Biola’s offense that got them the win. The Eagles were able to shut down Saint Katherine on the other end of the court, and minimizing their shot quality with tight defense. Biola kept the Firebirds to 35.1 percent from the field and only 23.3% from beyond the three point line.
Saint Katherine’s zone defense turned the game into a three-point contest, and the Eagles rose to the challenge. The Eagles ended the night shooting 48.4 percent from the field and an astounding 56.0 percent rom the three-point ark.
“I thought our defense and offense looked very good. We came out with a lot of energy and we sustained that for really throughout the game. I just thought our focus tonight was impressive. There was a lot of energy on the bench and on the court,” said head coach Dave Holmquist. “It was a good night for us.”
Up 78-45, Holmquist pulled his starters with 4:33 remaining in the game and subbed in the third stringers. The building went crazy when fan favorite, redshirt sophomore guard Kenneth Arrick sunk a three pointer in the final minutes of the game.
Biola (3-1) will travel to Claremont to take on Pomona-Pitzer Saturday at 7 p.m.
