Concordia men’s basketball team wins 7th in a row, defeating Biola 84-78 to stay in a tie for first place

 Austin Clarke (No. 44) and the Concordia Irvine Eagles earned their seventh straight win Saturday after fending off Biola 84-78.

It’s been almost an entire month since the Concordia University Irvine men’s basketball team has lost a game.

And after Saturday’s 84-78 victory over Biola, Concordia earned its seventh straight win to keep pace with Point Loma and stay tied for first place in the PacWest standings.

Concordia (8-4, 4-0 PacWest) defeated their Southern California rivals who share the same Eagle mascot with a familiar formula: hard-nosed defense and a balanced scoring attack.

“We are proving that we are a great defensive team and we’re striving for greatness,” said Robert Taylor, who hounded Biola’s guards up and down the floor all night and scored 13 points on the other end.

Brian Chambers led CUI with 18 points and filled up the stat sheet nicely with nine rebounds, six assists and a couple of steals.  Chambers made a living at the line and converted all 12 of his attempts from the charity stripe as well.

“Brian Chambers has transformed from the best offensive/defensive combination player in the conference to now he’s one of the best competitors we’ve ever had here,” said Concordia Coach Ken Ammann.

Jamel White also scored 10 points and handed out a team-high seven assists.

“Our guards were sensational tonight,” said Ammann. “They battled and made good decisions on the court. They’ve really matured as a group and our overall team toughness is night and day from the beginning of the season.”

White routinely worked the pick-and-roll to perfection with senior center Geoff Gerlach who proved to be a tough draw for the Biola post players.  Gerlach did his part with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor while Cameron English added 11 points off the bench and finished a team-best +9 on the evening.

“Our fours and fives have done a great job stepping up their focus, preparation and concentration in the absence of Tyler (Lacour) and the guards have done the same thing in the absence of Denzel (Holt) and losing Melly (Mike Mellinger) so our team has really done a great job covering for each other,” said Ammann.

Concordia made 81 percent of its free throws (21-for-26) and committed only ten turnovers the entire night.  The Eagles were able to stay disciplined most of the evening despite absorbing some hard fouls from the Red and Black.  Biola was called for two flagrant fouls and rarely gave up uncontested shots in the paint.

“It was very physical, very rough,” admitted Taylor. “It was a battle. Honestly, this is one of the toughest games we’ve played so far and we knew coming in that they were going to try and be more physical with us.”

A 9-0 run keyed by Kayle Knuckles and Gerlach helped CUI turn a 20-19 deficit into a 28-20 lead midway through the first half.  Knuckles hit a layup, White fed Gerlach for a bucket in the paint, and then Knuckles sank a three-pointer. Gerlach sank another jumper to finish off the surge by the home team, which led Biola by six at halftime, 41-35.

In the second half, Gerlach made three straight layups to push the CUI advantage back up to nine, 49-40.  A minute later, Taylor followed that up with a trey to give Concordia its largest lead of the night at 52-42.

Biola rallied to tie the game at 60 after Levi Auble sank a trey for the visitors midway through the second half.  But CUI responded with a quick 8-2 run behind a layup by Chambers and buckets by White and English to regain control.

With time running out down the stretch and CUI playing with a slim lead, Chambers made eight of his free throws with under a minute to play to ice Concordia’s seventh straight win.

“Biola has always been an extremely well-coached team that is hard to beat,” added Ammann. “They were really tough tonight. That was a hard-fought win.”

“I feel like we’re the best defensive team in the league when we stay focused and I feel like we’ve shown that in the last four games,” said Chambers. “I’m really proud of our team.”

Concordia finished with six players in double figures.  Knuckles scored all 11 of his points in the first half and notched his seventh game already with at least three made treys.  The redshirt freshman is shooting 42 percent from downtown after his first 12 games in a Concordia uniform.

The Eagles hit the road for their next PacWest contest and will face Fresno Pacific next Saturday at 4:30 pm.  The next home game for the CUI men’s basketball team will be a non-conference affair that starts at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 18 against Seattle Pacific.

-Courtesy Ben Rosehart