AZUSA, Calif. – Two groups of Eagles went head-to-head Thursday in the first round of the PacWest Conference Tournament as Concordia University Irvine and Biola met for the third time this season.

After splitting the regular season series with each team winning on its home court, CUI was poised to advance as the No. 4 seed in the rematch but a late burst by Biola midway through the second half helped the No. 5 seed top the Green and Gold, 86-77.

VIDEO: Click here to watch CUI's Knuckles, Mellinger and Ammann reflect on their last game and the entire 2019-20 season

Kayle Knuckles led the Eagles in scoring with a career-high 21 points. His previous career-high was 20 points which he scored earlier this season against Holy Names and last year as well against Hawaii Hilo.

Knuckles set the tone for the Eagles right away with a steal and a breakaway layup for the first points of the contest. He also drained four treys in the first half.

CUI jumped in front 15-13 after forcing a couple of turnovers and turning them into easy buckets. Darius Lee picked up a steal and dropped a dime to Cameron English for a fastbreak layup. Austin Clarke had also just checked into the game and immediately stepped into two treys.

The threes were falling in the first half for both teams. Concordia shot a sizzling 8-for-12 from behind-the-arc while Biola made five of its first seven attempts from long range.

The teams kept trading threes in the second half as the Eagles protected a small lead. After Biola briefly moved in front, a pair of slams by English helped put Concordia ahead 54-53.

Andre Green tied the game at 57 with a trey with about 12 minutes to play in regulation.

However, Biola regrouped thanks to a huge outing from junior guard Chris Rossow who scored a game-high 31 points. Rossow scored nine consecutive points for Biola to extend his team's advantage to 64-57 and Concordia was unable to regain the lead after that.

Down 67-60, Rob McCoy made a driving off-balance layup and then Jamel White converted a layup off a pass from Knuckles. Another bucket by Knuckles in the paint trimmed the deficit to 67-66 but Biola called timeout and made all of their 11 free throw attempts after that to curb the Concordia comeback.

"Going back-and-forth, back-and-forth the whole game with Biola and to have that outcome was tough," admitted Mike Mellinger, who was one of seven seniors that played their last game in a CUI uniform. "I couldn't be more proud of our guys coming out and giving everything they had for this game. It's just tough."

"We had so many great moments and were playing really, really hard in the first half and just couldn't seem to sustain it the whole 40 minutes," said CUI coach Ken Ammann. "We have a great group of guys and we're disappointed with how we finished the season, but I'm really proud of how we finished character-wise and how we competed."

"Five years at Concordia, it's tough to say that was my last game," added Mellinger. "But I loved every minute of it and I couldn't have asked for a better place to be, a better conference to be in, it's just been a blessing for sure."

"It's a tough way to finish but I'm proud of our group. Everyone gave everything they had out on the court," said Knuckles.

Biola advanced to Friday's semifinal round and will play tournament host Azusa Pacific at 7:15 p.m. The winner of that contest will play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the PacWest Conference Championships for an automatic bid in the NCAA DII West Regional Tournament.