FRESNO, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team aimed to flip the script on their rivals from Biola in the first quarterfinal of the day at the PacWest Conference Championships.

As they had in their previous two meetings, the Green and Gold showed they could control the tempo and put the Red and Black on their heels.

Joshua Caston scored Concordia's first eight points and had a dozen by halftime.  The Virginia Beach native finished with a team-high 21 points and was a steadying presence once again for CUI.

Senior Jalen Sanders also came to play and drained back-to-back three-pointers late in the first half to push the CUI lead to nine. After a Rodrick McCobb layup, CUI opened up its largest lead, 36-25.

The Eagles were up 36-27 at intermission against the higher-seed.

But then Biola got back in the game in the second half.  After Caston hit a jumper, Biola rattled off a 9-0 run to force a timeout.  Minutes later, the game was tied at 40-40 and it was anyone's ball game.

Biola built a 12-point lead later in the second half, but Concordia battled back and was within a bucket in the final minute. Down the stretch, Jalen Sanders made a free throw to cut the Biola lead to two and then intentionally missed the ensuing one on purpose to try to get the offensive rebound with limited time remaining.  Biola however collected the rebound and the Green and Gold were unable to get another good shot off as time ran out.

Biola escaped to advance to the semifinal round, 69-67. It was the third time this season that Biola narrowly avoided losing to the Eagles.  Concordia finished the season 13-13 overall.

Jalen Sanders finished with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. His younger brother, Kobe Sanders, added 11 points and a game-high six assists.

Cameron Fini and Matt Weyand combined for 10 points off the bench.

"This team went through a lot this year and I've never felt more in tune than in the past three, four games," said Rodrick McCobb, who scored nine points in his final game as an Eagle. "We were not shook or rattled when (Biola) went up 12, we just rallied as a team. I had confidence in us but it just didn't go the way we expected it to go."

VIDEO - CLICK HERE to Hear Coach Ammann, McCobb, Caston & Sanders Postgame Interview

CUI was coming off a thrilling home win on Senior Night where the Green and Gold stunned Azusa Pacific and prevented the Cougars from winning the regular season crown. CUI won its last three regular season games to make the conference tournament and clinch the No. 6 seed.

"We had great momentum coming in to this conference tournament and that (Senior Night) was a great memory." added Caston. "We came together as a team and it's a testament to our guys."

CLICK HERE for a look back at the CUI men's basketball schedule