LA MIRADA, Calif. - Going into Wednesday night's PacWest Conference opener, the Golden Eagles were facing off against the Eagles at Biola University.
The Golden Eagles were hungry for a win against Biola University, and that hunger was satisfied Wednesday evening. CUI men's basketball started off PacWest Conference play with a bang, winning against Biola, something the team hasn't accomplished since January 2020!
The game had started out very slow offensively for the Golden Eagles, and it just seemed like the team couldn't get their bearings right from the jump ball. The head coach of the Golden Eagles,
Ken Ammann, made a crucial substitution with about seven minutes left to play in the first half, subbing in
Javier Gallardo.
Gallardo immediately made an impact on the court, grabbing offensive rebounds and And-1 put-backs to help the Golden Eagles end the half on a 13-0 run with 11 straight points from
Javier Gallardo to put CUI up 35-33 at the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, the Golden Eagles picked up right where they left off. Players such as
Kobe Sanders and
Jackson Tucker were showing off their scoring abilities, hitting stepback three-point shots and creating tough shots off the dribble for CUI's offense. With the offense flowing and the defense stealing the Eagles passes, the Golden Eagles saw themselves go up by 11 points with 10 minutes left in the second half.
Biola University tried to crawl back into the game, but the Golden Eagles would not allow them to do so. Even with a nail-biting finish, CUI outlasted a last-second run from Biola and won with a final score of 77-74!
Some marquee players for the Golden Eagles were
Javier Gallardo, who led CUI in scoring with 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, scoring an efficient 7 for 8 from the field; Conor Gleason, who scored 13 points, including one clutch three and rebounded three boards;
Tim Adetukasi scored 12 points while grabbing 10 rebounds, and had five dimes on the night;
Jackson Tucker who scored 12 points including going 4 for 5 from deep also making that his career high in three-point shots; rounding out the 5 players who scored over 10 points is
Kobe Sanders who scored 11 points and dished out four assists to his fellow Golden Eagles.
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