RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Hope International shot 59.3 percent and a perfect 6 of 6 from distance in the second half to upend La Sierra, 88-76, in Great Southwest Athletic Conference action on Saturday.
The Royals closed the game on an 18-4 run to improve to 5-1 on the season.
HIU knocked down five of its final seven shots, beginning that final run with three straight three-point daggers. Jorren Edmonds hit the first two, and Darvelle Wyatt sank the third as the Royals turned a 72-70 deficit into a 79-72 lead.
Nick Hopkins got inside for a layup and Wyatt canned a jumper to extend the lead to 83-74 with 1:40 remaining. The Royals sank four of five from the foul line to ice the victory.
The Golden Eagles made just one of their final six shots.
HIU tied season-highs for three-pointers made (13) and three-point percentage (.565). The Royals spread out the production with seven players hitting at least one triple, with Edmonds and Wyatt finishing 3 for 3.
The Royals also dished out 22 assists, equaling a season-high for the team and the most among a GSAC team.
Freshman Aman Haynes continued to excel off the bench, tallying a team-high 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting. He added a team-high tying seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
Edmonds scored 15 points while playing a team-high 34 minutes, dishing out five assists with no turnovers. HIU committed just nine turnovers overall.
Three additional HIU players notched double-digit points – Wyatt (13), CJ Fisher (12) and Hopkins (10). Addy G'Bye nearly made it a sixth double-digit scorer as he had nine points to go along with three assists.
HIU also neutralized La Sierra 7-foot-3 center Jasper Reinalda. Reinalda entered the game averaging 19.5 points and 14.0 rebounds per game. He finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. Reinalda also had accumulated 22 blocked shots through the first six games and rejected just one Royals shot.
La Sierra shot 57.1 (16 of 28) percent in the first half, including 7 of 14 from three-point range, trailing just 42-41 at the break.
Despite the hot shooting from the Golden Eagles, HIU led by as many as 14 at 34-20 on a Haynes layup with 7:50 left in the half.
However, Godfrey Little poured in 12 straight points for La Sierra to cut HIU's lead to 36-32. La Sierra outscored the Royals 21-8 over the final eight minutes to turn it into a tight game at halftime.
Little and Stephen Perry accounted for 47 of La Sierra's 76 points. The duo shot a combined 18 of 29 from the field. La Sierra finished the game shooting 55.6 (30 of 54) percent overall.
HIU returns to action on Monday in the opening game of the Royals Thanksgiving Classic, hosting Southern Oregon for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.
