Men’s basketball’s 83-69 loss against Point Loma Nazarene University was their first conference loss in close to a month. The Eagles now move to third in the PacWest conference standings, with only Azusa Pacific University and Point Loma ahead of them.

Redshirt senior guard Chris Rossow led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points, while adding in six assists and five rebounds. Redshirt senior forward Michael Bagatourian followed closely with 16 points and six rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Alex Wright played all 40 minutes of the contest, scoring 11 points along with three steals, six assists, and seven boards.

TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE

The Eagles hung in there for the opening minutes of the game, and were only down seven points with 11:35 left in the first half. However, poor shooting from the field, and more specifically from 3-point range, allowed the visiting Sea Lions to maintain control of the game.

At the halftime break, PLNU had only made one more shot than the Eagles, but had made four more 3-pointers, as they shot a woeful 2-10 from behind the arc.

The same trends carried into the second half, where Biola, playing from behind, were forced to take out of rhythm shots to try and cut the lead. Point Loma, on the other hand, were able to control the pace of the game and grow their lead. At the 9:10 mark, they led 48-68, and carried their advantage to the final whistle where the final score was 69-83.

Point Loma were led by junior forward Kaden Anderson, who had 20 points, and senior forward Ben Okhotin who shot 7-8 from 3-point range and had 22 points.

Men’s basketball (19-5 overall, 13-4 conference) are back on the hardwood for the Cornerstone Cup against Azusa Pacific University at Chase Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Biola fans are being asked to wear white in support of the Eagles. Footage and stats from the game are located on the Biola Athletics website.