NAIA DISTRICT 3 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Biola Ousts SCC; Christ College Irvine Also Loses

Biola left no doubt Saturday night that it is a different team than the one that lost to Southern California College in December.

On Dec. 15, SCC defeated the Eagles, 65-63, one game before 6-foot-10 transfer Emilio Kovacic became eligible.

This time, Biola easily rolled over SCC, 65-53, in a semifinal of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 playoffs in front of 2,200 at Whittier College.

For the Vanguards (24-8), the defending champions, the loss means there will be no return trip to Kansas City.

Top-seeded Biola (26-6) will play for the district title at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Westmont, which defeated Christ College Irvine, 52-49, in the other semifinal.

Biola, which besides 6-10 Kovacic, has a front line of Rodney Camper (6-6) and Jeff Baker (6-9), out-rebounded the Vanguards, 24-9, in the first half and took a 20-point lead at the half.

Camper had 14 points and 13 rebounds, Kovacic had 13 points and 15 rebounds and Baker had 10 points and seven rebounds.

“It’s demoralizing as a coach and I’m sure it’s demoralizing to the players on the court to watch them get second and third shots,” SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said.

Kovacic was also effective on defense against SCC’s Jeff Bickmore, who had 35 points in the Vanguards’ victory over The Master’s in the first round. Kovacic forced Bickmore into a five of 20 from the field night with the SCC center finishing with 10 points, half of his average.

SCC cut the deficit to 11 points a couple of times in the second half but couldn’t put together a serious run.

Westmont 52, Christ College Irvine 49--With two seconds remaining, Aaron Clasen missed a three-point shot that would have sent the game into overtime.

Clasen had chased down a loose ball and scrambled beyond the three-point line before taking the shot, which rattled out.

Christ College (13-18), the seventh seed, had led, 32-25, at the half, but two long second-half dry spells allowed No. 3 Westmont (20-9) to rally.