FULLERTON – Addy G'Bye scored a career-high 32 points to lead No. 13 Hope International men's basketball to an 98-81 triumph over Justice College on Saturday at Darling Pavilion.
The guard knocked down 10 three-pointers (on 18 attempts) en route to his second career 30-point outing. The Royals made 17 three-pointers – shooting 48.6 (17 of 35) overall from distance – the most triples in a game since hitting 18 against Westmont on Feb. 26, 2021.
HIU's marksmanship offset a solid shooting performance from Justice, which finished at 52.7 (29 of 55) percent overall and 47.6 (10 of 21) percent from three-point range. The Lions hit seven threes in the first half to fight back from a 21-point deficit, trailing by just eight at halftime.
But the Royals (11-2) never allowed the Lions to get closer than seven in the second half, shooting 59.2 (16 of 27) percent with nine threes, six from G'Bye. Five of those triples pushed a single-digit Lion deficit to double digits, as G'Bye had an answer for every push the visitors made.
The Lions trimmed HIU's lead to 75-67 on a Jaden Walker jumper with 7:03 to go, but G'Bye splashed a three to put the Royals up by 11 just 12 seconds later. Vanti Erving responded with a three for Justice to bring the deficit down to 78-70, but G'Bye answered with another trey for an 11-point cushion at the 5:40 mark.
Jorren Edmonds sank a three with 5:11 remaining to give HIU an 84-70 lead, and the Royals kept their distance from there. Nick Hopkins and Aman Haynes scored 12 of HIU's final 14 points to keep the Lions at bay.
HIU trailed 8-7 early in the first half, but engineered a 23-3 run to take a 30-11 lead on G'Bye three with 9:13 left. CJ Fisher's layup provided the Royals their biggest lead at 41-20 with 5:39 on the clock.
But the Lions closed out the half scoring 20 of the final 27 points on an array of three-pointers – two each from Rayqwan King and Nyzhir Brown – reducing their deficit to 48-40 at halftime.
Fisher finished with 16 points, three rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals in another solid all-around performance. Edmonds chipped in 13 points and four assists with no turnovers in a game-high 33 minutes.
Haynes, who drew his first start of the season, had 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Hopkins added nine points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
The Royals posted 25 points off of 15 Justice turnovers and led 21-9 in second chance points.
Walker and King led the Lions (4-4) with 16 points apiece.
HIU hosts Florida Memorial in the final game of 2025, tipping off at 2:00 p.m. on Monday.
