FRESNO, Calif. – Despite trailing by as much as 11, Biola overcame a slow start with the help of Chris Rossow’s 19 second-half points to lead Biola to a 69-67 win over Concordia to advance to the PacWest semifinals on Wednesday at the Special Events Center.
 
This isn’t the first time Rossow has put together a strong performance at the PacWest Championships after leading the tournament in scoring at the 2020 iteration of the conference tournament. He picked up right where he left off after averaging 27 points per game at the tournament that year with a game-high 29 points to lead Biola (21-7) to its third win this season against Concordia (13-13).
 
The win for Biola put a pause on Concordia head coach Ken Ammann’s pursuit of his milestone 500^th career win. Biola is now on a nine-game winning streak against Concordia after Concordia had won the first five meetings between the Eagles when Biola joined the PacWest in 2017, resuming the historic rivalry between Amman and Dave Holmquist.
 
Josh Caston scored a team-high 21 points for Concordia, and he scored the first basket of the second half, which gave Concordia a 38-27 lead over Biola early in the second half. However, Rossow single-handedly went on a 7-0 run that started with a 3-point play as Biola pulled within two points after Michael Bagatourian made a layup in the paint.
 
Only a minute later, Whitten Dominguez made a layup to give Biola its first lead, 25 minutes into the game. Biola never trailed again after that and pushed the lead to as much as 12 points.
 
In the final minute, Jalen Sanders made a pair of free throws for Concordia to cut the deficit to a single point. On the other end of the floor, Biola turned to Bagatourian for its most important basket of the game, as the fifth-year senior scored in the paint to take a 67-64 lead. Each team traded two points, and then Biola committed a foul to prevent Concordia from attempting a game-tying 3-pointer. The decision paid off as Biola held on for the 69-67 win.
 
Bagatourian finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds as he eclipsed 700 rebounds, becoming the seventh player in PacWest history to reach the milestone. Alex Wright had 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals. He made the team’s only 3-pointer as Biola went 1 for 11 from beyond the arc.
 
Biola advances to play the winner of No. 2 seed Azusa Pacific and No. 7 seed Hawai`i Hilo. That game will be played at 12:30 p.m. (Pacific) on Friday. Tickets and the latest information on the PacWest Championships can be found here.