FULLERTON – Five players scored in double figures and the Hope International men's basketball team shot 56 percent in a 111-53 rout of Bethesda on Wednesday at Darling Pavilion.
Chinedu Nwankwo led all scorers with 25 points on 12 of 19 shooting, tying for team high honors with nine rebounds. Addy G'Bye canned five three-pointers en route to 22 points, while Jason Hilliard contributed 16 points and nine rebounds.
Jacob Harper and Aman Haynes added 15 points apiece. Harper made all three of his three-point attempts.
HIU shot 46.2 (12 of 26) percent from three-point territory.
The Royals took the lead for good as Hilliard's triple made it 5-4. HIU steadily built a double-digit lead and a 12-0 run extended the advantage to 35-12 with 9:03 remaining in the first half.
HIU led 60-30 at halftime.
The Royals held the Lion Angels without a field goal for the first nine and a half minutes of the second half and led 89-32 following a three-point play by Nwankwo.
The game featured several Royal debuts, including Cale Ackerman, who scored his first career collegiate basket.
HIU faces a tough test next week at the Lithia-Oregon Tech Classic in Klamath Falls, Ore. The Royals open the two-day event against Southern Oregon on Friday, Nov. 6 at noon.
