Men’s basketball started off their northern California road trip in style, coming back from a 16-point deficit to win against Fresno Pacific University, 69-68 on Saturday. This is the team’s sixth win in a row, moving them to an 11-3 conference record.

Four Eagles scored double-digit points, led by redshirt senior forward Michael Bagatourian who had 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior redshirt guard Alex Wright had 18 points with eight rebounds, while redshirt freshman forward Maximo Malovich had a huge 12 points and five boards in 25 minutes off the bench.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

The Eagles came out slow and were extremely poor shooting the ball in the first half, going 5/29 (17%) from the field. The free-throw line was the team’s saving grace, where they shot 10/10. However, the Sunbirds led 21-31 at half.

It was not until the Eagles were down 16 with 12:03 left before they started chipping away at the Sunbirds’ lead. Multiple trips to the free-throw line for Milovich and a pair of 3-pointers from Wright cut it to only three with 5:48 left.

The biggest sequence of the game began with 48 seconds left, as Bagatourian banked in a little runner on the right side of the key to give Biola a 66-65 lead, their first lead since the opening minutes of the first half.

On the ensuing Sunbird possession, redshirt senior guard Chris Rossow got a steal and then was fouled on a layup. He made 1/2 free throws to make the lead 67-65. 

With 11 seconds left the Sunbirds banked in a 3-point shot to take the lead, before Rossow went the length of the court and made an incredible turn-around jump shot to win the game, 69-68, with 3 seconds left. The Sunbirds did not get a shot up on their final possession.

Men’s basketball (17-4 overall, 11-3 conference) will continue their road trip as they take on Holy Names University on Monday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Footage and stats from the game are located on the Biola Athletics website.