IRVINE, CA --- In the second matchup this year between the top-two teams in the Golden State Athletic Conference, the second verse was same as the first. The NAIA's No. 3-ranked Concordia shot and defended its way to a 70-61 win over No. 4 Biola in front of a capacity Homecoming crowd.

Concordia hit 21 of 31 free-throw attempts, at 68 percent for the game, but Biola was just 10-for-22 from the charity stripe, by comparison, at 46 percent.

The win moves Concordia to 25-2, including 15-2 in GSAC play, and gives the Eagles a two-game lead over Biola, which drops to 23-4, 13-4 GSAC.

CUI was led by 21 points from junior guard Justin Johnson, and also got double-digit efforts from the trio of senior guard Terrence Worthy (13), sophomore center Andre Murillo (11) and sophomore guard Austin Simon (10).

"That was a hard-fought game, it was two really good defensive teams going at it, and both teams had trouble scoring," head coach Ken Ammann said. "That was a big win for us. Biola's a great team, so to beat them twice this year was not an easy thing to do."

Concordia, which came into the contest last in the conference in rebounding, grabbed the same number of boards--30--as Biola, which started the night with a GSAC-best +7.6 rebounding margin.

The Eagles also kept up their NAIA-best turnover margin of +8.35, committing 11 turnovers and forcing 17 Biola give-aways. CUI scored 21 points from turnovers, while Biola scored eight.

Concordia broke a 37-37 tie midway through the second half with four consecutive made free throws, and Worthy knocked down one of his game-high three treys to ahead of a layup from Johnson that gave the Eagles a 46-37 lead with 8:07 left to play.

After junior forward Brandon Hucks grabbed the offensive board from an errant jumper by senior forward Dominic Cruz-Duncan and tipped it in to give the Eagles another nine-point lead, Biola's Josh Miller hit a triple that cut the CUI lead down to six, at 52-46 with 3:43 remaining.

However, Worthy was there again with another momentum-holding trey that put the Eagles ahead by a 55-46 margin and charted the course for a double-digit Concordia lead.

The Eagles led by as much as 12 points three times in the waning minutes of the game, and went 9-for-13 from the line during one stretch to help close out the victory.

Biola had double-digit performances from Miller, Rocky Hampton and Marlon King, who posted 10, 18 and 16 points, respectively.

Concordia next hosts Vanguard this Tuesday night (Feb. 23), starting at 7:30 p.m. at CU Arena.