KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box score) No. 1 seed Biola (Calif.) used hot shooting to shut down No. 8 Faulkner (Ala.), 84-54, in the first round of the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship. The Eagles, who push their NAIA-best win streak to 11-straight games, shot 58.5 percent (31-of-53) from the field. Biola advances to the NAIA Second Round and awaits the winner of Park (Mo.) and Mid-America Christian (Okla.).

Faulkner got out of the gates strong, putting together a seven-point lead at 19-12 with nine minutes left in the first half. Four different Eagles found the scoring column during that spurt, led by nine points from Logan Jozwiak. However, Biola stormed back and went on a 26-7 run to close out the half.

Leading 38-26 at intermission, Biola needed five minutes to push the margin to 20 points (50-30) and never looked back. The Eagles scorched the nets to a tune of 69.6 percent (16-of-23) shooting in the second frame.

“We’re glad to win this first one and get the rest of today and all of tomorrow to enjoy this,” said Biola head coach Dr. Dave Holmquist. “When you are able to win the first one and get used to playing here, that’s big.”

Biola’s top two scorers got things going early. Terrell Funches and Dakari Archer combined for 27 points in the first half. Funches finished the game with 26 points, with Archer close behind with 23. Jeff Gonzalez chipped in 11 points.

On the other side, Faulkner’s scorers never found a rhythm. Di’mar Hill, who came into the game with a team-best 21.3 scoring average, had zero points at the half and recorded his first points with 12:52 remaining in the second half. Hill finished with three points on 1-of-9 shooting, which marked the first time he was limited to fewer than 10 points all season.

Jozwiak picked up the offense for Faulkner netting 26 points, which tied with Funchess for the game high.

“We knew they’d pound it inside,” said Faulkner head coach Scott Sanderson. “They had good spacing and good movement. They won 29 games for a reason. They’re a really good team.”

Biola dominated the boards with a 44-18 advantage. Three played each finished with eight rebounds – Funches, Gonzalez and Ryan Swain.

Faulkner shot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor.

Faulkner finishes its season with a record of 20-14.

Game notes:
Biola - The Eagles entered the game with the longest winning streak of any team at the National tournament and extended that winning streak to 11 games... Has won its First Round contest now in each of the last four events… Improved to 9-2 against teams in the 2016 National Championship...Entered the game leading the NAIA in three defensive categories; scoring defense (59.7), three-point percentage defense (.288) and field goal percentage defense (.377)...Dakari Archer topped the 20-point mark for the 14th time this season while Terrell Funches topped the 20 points for the 11th time...30-point margin of victory was the largest in program history at the National Championship.

Faulkner - Lost in the National Championship First Round for the first time since the 2005 event...Eagles had their six-game win streak snapped...Logan Jozwiak scored a career-high 26 points, and topped 20 points for the first time this season...The 30-point loss was the largest margin of defeat in program postseason history...Finished with a team-low 18 rebounds...Attempted just six free throws, the lowest for the program since attempting four in a game against Emmanuel (Ga.) in a game on Feb. 1, 2014.