Evergreen Falls to Biola in Heartbreaker, 71-69
AZUSA, Calif. --- Junior Nate Rakestraw hit the front-end of a one-and-one, then came up with a big steal on the other end as Biola held on for a wild 71-69 win over The Evergreen State College in the first game of the 23rd Annual Cougar Classic hosted by Azusa Pacific.
The Eagles, ranked No. 17 in the NAIA Division I Preseason Poll, improve to 2-0 on the season. The Geoducks, ranked No. 22 in the NAIA Division II Preseason rankings, fall to 1-1.
Rakestraw's free throw and steal capped off a crazy finish to a close battle. Biola led by seven points with 1:27 to go and still held a six-point edge with 24 seconds remaining. But the Geoducks' Nathan Menefee converted three-free throws after being fouled with 19 seconds left, then after a steal by Ben Wilson, Menefee drained a long three-pointer with 12 seconds left to tie things up.
Unaware of the tie score, Wilson, who made the huge steal, inexplicably fouled Rakestraw on the way back down the court, giving the Eagles a one-and-one with 9.7 seconds go. After converting one of the two shots, he then stepped in front of an entry pass on the other end and threw a long lead pass to Marlon King who was fouled with just over one second to play.
Rakestraw finished with 18 points in the game on 6-for-11 shooting from the field including four three-pointers and added five steals. Rocky Hampton scored a team-high 19 points, adding 12 rebounds and three blocks. Schroeder added 12 points off the bench on 6-for-8 shooting.
Biola dominated inside, outscoring the Geoducks 34-6 in the paint and holding a 44-33 edge in rebounds including a 15-3 advantage on the offensive glass. However, Evergreen State hung in the game thanks to nien three-pointers and 44.6 percent shooting from the field.
In the first half, Biola jumped out to an early 11-2 lead only to see Evergreen State come right back and tie the game at 11 with a 9-0 run. The teams battled back and forth the rest of the half. Biola was able to take a late five-point lead as Rakestraw drained a long three-pointer, then added a steal and fastbreak lay-up with just 23 seconds left to go up 33-28.
The Geoducks took their first lead of the half at 45-44 on a three-point play by Nathan Menefee, who scored five-straight points for Evergreen State. Moments later, Julio Feliciano connected on five-straight points to stretch the Geoducks' lead to 50-46.
Biola fought back to take the lead near the midway point of the half at 53-51 as Andrew Schroeder hit a layup to tie the score. Then, after a defensive rebound on the other end, came down and hit another in the paint to make give the Eagles back the lead.
With just under nine minutes to play, Biola found itself down two at 55-53. But strong defense helped the Eagles roll to a 7-0 run over a five-minute stretch to take a 60-55 lead. Rakestraw capped off the run with another steal and fast-break layup, his fourth steal of the night.
Biola continued to lead down the stretch and it appeared Rakestraw capped off the game with a three from the corner to give the Eagles a 68-61 lead with 1:27 to play. But that is when the wild ending began and Biola would have to hold on to win.
Menefee led the Geoducks, scoring a game-high 22 points. Feliciano added 18 points for Evergreen State.
Evergreen will meet tournament host Azusa Pacific University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 14.