Box Score

Leading by one in the closing seconds, Fresno Pacific did everything it could possibly do; forcing Biola out of the play it had called and making Given Kalipinde, a 29 percent three-point shooter, throw up a contested three-pointer. Unfortunately for the Sunbirds, Kalipinde's three was on target, effectively nullifying an all-around quality performance by the Sunbirds as Biola escaped Fresno with a 64-62 win.

Kenny Bradford's desperation half-court shot at the buzzer narrowly missed the mark and with that FPU fell to 13-14, 4-11 in conference play. The Eagles improved to 19-8, 9-6 in GSAC play with the win and avenged the loss from earlier this season when Donte Nicholas hit a buzzer-beater to lead the Sunbirds to victory in La Mirada.

"I thought we played extremely hard defensively," said head coach Chris Wright. "We had very few mental lapses and breakdowns, which have been plaguing us for much of the year. You've got to give Biola credit for hitting a big shot, but that's a shot we'd be okay with them taking 100 out of 100 times in that situation."

The Sunbirds led by as many as seven with 10 minutes to play and would regain the lead with 1:05 left on a deep three-pointer by Matt Christman. After getting a stop on the other end, Bradford was fouled but missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 to give the Eagles the ball back, leading to Kalipinde's heroics.

FPU was hurt by a missed 10-second call during a full-court press with four minutes to play. It proved costly as the Eagles knocked down a three-pointer to take a 59-55 lead before buckets by Nicholas and Bradford would tie it up again.

Nicholas finished with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Christman had 12 with four three-pointers and Bradford added 11. Zach Kaul added nine points, carrying the Sunbirds in the first half. FPU shot 50 percent for the game, as did Biola, and the Sunbirds would make 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Andre Murillo led the Eagles with 17 points. Chase Adams added 15, Dakota Anderson had 14 and Kalipinde finished with 10 and six assists.

FPU remains in a tie for eighth place in the GSAC after Hope International lost to last-place San Diego Christian. The Sunbirds go on the road this Saturday to face Vanguard (14-12, 6-9 GSAC),  a team that defeated the Sunbirds in a nailbiter in Fresno earlier this season.