AZUSA, CALIF. -- Before the season started Azusa Pacific Head Coach Bill Odell briefly mentioned mystique, hoping that "Cougar mystique" would help carry the 4-time defending GSAC champions through the rigors of conference play, though this team wasn't as talented as past Cougar teams.

Well that mystique made a glorious showing Saturday night as Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 19 in the latest NAIA polls, upset No. 3 Biola, 93-79, in a GSAC game in Azusa.

Dameon Page led 5 Cougars who scored in double figures with a team-high 19 points.  Jason Sanders added a season-high 14 points to go along with 6 rebounds, while Jeremy DeVries added 17 points off the bench.

The Cougar bench out-scored Biola's bench, 46-18.

"This victory reinforces what I've taught them all year long," said Odell.  We're not one guy.  We're not even five guys.  We're 12 guys playing together.  Our depth hurt Biola down the stretch.  They had to take time outs for rest."

Biola whittled a 10-point halftime deficit and pulled to within 2 at 61-59 with 12 minutes left in the game.  The Eagles still trailed by only 73-70 with just under 9 minutes to play, but the Cougars finished off the game with a 20-9 run.

Biola was led by John Florance's 23 points.  Matt Garrison added 17 points and a game-high 8 rebounds.

Azusa Pacific held a surprising 51-41 cushion at halftime, thanks to an 11-2 run over the final 3:43 of the half.  Page scored 6 of his 9 first-half points during that half-ending run.  Additionally, Azusa Pacific made 7 treys to Biola 3, and out-shot the Eagles 53% (18-for-34) to 47% (16-for-34).

The victory is Azusa Pacific's 12 th straight at home and the Cougars 25th in the past 26 games.  Also, it pushed their current winning streak to a season-high 6 straight.  Since Dec. 13, Azusa Pacific is 12-1.

The Cougars now 17-5 overall, 4-0 in the GSAC.  Biola, which has its 12-game winning streak snapped, falls to 17-2 overall, 3-1 in the GSAC.