LA MIRADA, CALIF. -- Junior guard Jason Boswell scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the final 7 minutes to lead the NAIA's No. 6-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 72-67 victory over No. 9-ranked Biola in a Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) game in La Mirada Saturday night.

Boswell buried a pair of treys, converted a conventional 3-point play and made 2 free throws to lead the Cougars back from a near collapse. His trey with 2:33 left put the Cougars up for good at 64-62. T.J. Walker then made 3 free throws to give the Cougars an insurmountable 67-62 cushion.

"I hadn't been playing well lately," said Boswell, "but hitting that go-ahead a 3 and converting a 3-point play certainly builds my confidence. We picked up the intensity which allowed us to bounce back from the Westmont game (a 93-90 loss). We showed character tonight."

Biola, which came into the game second in the NAIA in free throw percentage, missed 4 of 6 attempts down the stretch, including 2 with 1:44 remaining by Josh Lockhart, an 84-percenter at the line this season.

Junior center Jack Hartman, who scored a game-high 27 points, led Biola back from a 44-30 deficit with 20 second half points, including 2 on a lay-up that gave the Eagles their first lead at 51-50 with 8:44 left to play.

As it has several times this year, the Cougars used a tenacious defense to jump out to a 21-5 lead in the first 7 minutes of the game. Biola rallied on a 23-10 run to cut the deficit to 31-28. However, Azusa Pacific finished off the first half with an 11-0 run to take a comfortable 14-point (42-28) cushion into the locker room at half-time.

"We got our lead in the early going not because we shot well, but because of our pressure defense," said Azusa Pacific coach Bill Odell.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 18-4 overall, 3-1 in the GSAC. The loss, which is only the second in 20 games for Biola this season, snaps the Eagles' 9-game winning streak.