FULLERTON – No. 19 Hope International men's basketball outlasted OUAZ in a physical Great Southwest Athletic Conference battle on Saturday at Darling Pavilion, earning a 68-66 victory to improve to 9-1 on the season.
The Royals survived 14 OUAZ three-pointers, shooting 25 of 37 at the free throw line and limiting the Spirit to just five attempts at the charity stripe.
Senior Nick Hopkins tossed in a game-high 19 points, shooting an efficient 5 of 9 from the floor while dealing with constant double teams. His aggressiveness inside got him to the free throw line often, where he finished 9 of 13 overall. Hopkins added four rebounds and three steals to his stat line.
Addy G'Bye knocked down three triples on his way to 13 points. Freshman Aman Haynes posted his ninth straight double-digit game with 12 points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds.
Guard CJ Fisher was the fourth Royal in double figures with 10 points. He finished 6 of 8 at the free throw line.
OUAZ shot 40.0 (14 of 35) percent from long range, but ended up at just 37.5 (24 of 64) percent overall for the game. HIU shot 41.3 (19 of 46) percent from the floor.
The Spirit were led by Carter Giddens, who drained four threes and finished with a team-high 16 points. Max Mkpa was active on the boards and yanked down 15 rebounds.
HIU trailed by eight at 35-27 early in the second half, but tied the score with an 8-0 run, which included a pair of three-pointers from G'Bye. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair where neither team led by more than four points until late in the game.
The Royals took their first lead of the game with 7:52 remaining, as a Fisher dunk made it 51-50. Giddens responded with a layup and a three-pointer to hand a 55-51 lead back to the Spirit.
After G'Bye and Quinn Thorne traded triples, HIU scored six straight points to take a 60-58 lead as Haynes collected a pair of buckets.
The Spirit went five minutes without a field goal, and the Royals took advantage. Hopkins hit a pair of shots to increase the HIU lead to 66-59.
Jerry Johnson scored with 32 seconds remaining to cut OUAZ's deficit to 66-61, but the Royals made 2 of 4 from the foul line to keep the visitors at bay.
The Spirit hit five early threes to take a 20-13 lead with 10:05 to go in the first half. They finished the first 20 minutes with seven triples, taking a 32-27 halftime lead.
HIU is off until Friday, December 19, participating in the Cactus Classic in Chandler, Ariz. The Royals open the tournament against Huntington at 4:00 p.m.
