Men’s basketball had a night to remember as they crushed Concordia University Irvine, 77-63, while celebrating the senior class of 2020. The only senior saying goodbye tonight was guard Marquise Mosley, who sadly was unable to participate in tonight’s victory due to injury.
Sophomore guard Alex Wright led the scoring for the Eagles, finishing with 21 points. Three of Biola’s starters—junior forward Michael Bagatourian, junior guard Chris Rossow and junior forward Jesse Elrod—all had double-doubles tonight. Bagatourian had 19 points and 10 rebounds on 67% shooting, while Elrod also had 10 rebounds to go along with his 13 points. Rossow distributed the ball well, finishing with 11 assists and 12 points.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Despite the lack of depth on the bench, the Eagles played an extremely consistent game for all 40 minutes. They dominated on the glass, grabbing 41 rebounds on the night, 10 of those being offensive. Bagatourian and Elrod made up almost half of those rebounds, each grabbing 10.
“We had 20 turnovers and still won, but I think we outrebounded them by nine, so that made some of that difference,” said head coach Dave Holmquist. “There were a lot of big plays on offense down the stretch. Guys driving in and creating things. I was just really happy with the effort.”
The Eagles were defensively sound all throughout the first half. They held Concordia to only 26 points in this period, and did not allow them to score in the final three minutes. By the end of 20, the Eagles headed into the locker room up 34-26.
The game was back and forth throughout the second half, however with 1:55 left in the game, Rossow drove to the basket and made a reverse layup to seal the victory and put the Eagles up nine. BU then went on to win 77-63.
SAYING GOODBYE
As a fifth-year senior, Mosley averaged 15.7 points on 43% shooting for the Eagles, with his season high being 29 in the away game versus Hawaii Pacific University. He started every game up until his injury in mid February and played a pivotal role for Holmquist’s team this season.
“When he came here I was so excited to have him,” Wright said. “He is obviously a really skilled player. Just learning his mentality, I was talking to him today about his finishing and I used some of his stuff in the game today and it really helped. I love him to death and I wish he would have played [tonight].”
POSTSEASON
The Eagles (17-11 overall, 13-9 PacWest) have locked up the No. 5 seed in the PacWest Conference Tournament, which is being held at Azusa Pacific University and will begin on Thursday, March 5.
“This is the first year we are eligible and the first year we made it, so that’s history in the making,” Wright said. “We are looking to make a deep push. I know everyone’s gonna be locked in on the playoffs, but no one’s expecting us to win, and we don’t like that so we’re gonna go after it.”
