LA MIRADA, Calif. - For most of Tuesday night's game, the Concordia University Irvine Eagles were in a tight battle against their rivals from Biola.

After a solid first half performance by both teams, CUI opened up an eight-point advantage on multiple occasions. But Biola sprung into action late in front of its home crowd and went on a 26-11 run to end the game. It all added up to a 83-76 win for the host Eagles. The loss snapped CUI's three-game winning streak.

Joshua Caston scored 24 points and newly minted D2CIDA National Player of the Year Wayne Arnold added 20 to pace CUI (10-8, 7-5 PacWest).

Jalen Sanders chipped in with 11 points and Cameron Fini added 10 off the bench. A bucket by Jalen pushed CUI's lead to six right before intermission. 

The Green and Gold led 39-33 at the break and were still up by six midway through the second half.

"We played hard, competed well and controlled the game for the first 30+ minutes," explained CUI head coach Ken Ammann.  "It's a shame we wasted such a good effort to get to that point by letting them take it back so quickly. Biola was able to get the shots they wanted and we were not. We need to get better in that regard as we head down the home stretch this regular season."

Concordia will get a second chance against Biola in about 10 days when the Green and Gold host the rematch in Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 12.

The Eagles return to action next Wednesday, Feb. 9 at home against Fresno Pacific as part of a PacWest Conference doubleheader with the Sunbirds. The women start at 5 p.m. followed by the men a 7:30 p.m. inside CU Arena.  Masks are required per California state health and safety guidelines.

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