FULLERTON – Hope International men's basketball held Embry-Riddle to 32.7 percent shooting in a 64-51 victory on Saturday at Darling Pavilion as the team celebrated Senior Day.
Nick Hopkins, CJ Fisher, Micah Myricks and Allen Wright were honored in a pregame ceremony for their contributions to Royals basketball.
Once the game started, Fisher and Addy G'Bye combined to score the first 11 points as HIU held an early four-point lead. The Royals upped the lead to 26-18, but ERAU went on a 10-2 run to knot the score at 28-28, culminating in a Noah Gifft three-pointer.
HIU scored the final five points of the half, getting a buzzer-beating three-pointer from freshman JD Davis.
Both teams struggled to score coming out of the locker rooms, combining to miss their first 12 shots with six turnovers to start the second half.
The Royals dented the scoreboard first on a Hopkins layup to extend the lead to 35-28. But the Eagles embarked on their second 10-2 run of the game to take a 38-37 lead, getting triples from Christian Wells and Gifft.
HIU took the lead back immediately as freshman Aman Haynes, who led the Royals with 17 points, got inside for a layup. HIU would not relinquish the lead from there, holding the Eagles to 30.0 (9 of 30) percent shooting in the second half, including 20.0 (3 of 15) percent from distance.
ERAU kept it close, trailing by no more than five points for a long stretch. But an acrobatic dunk from Fisher increased the HIU lead to 54-47 with 3:58 to go, facilitated by a Davis steal. Fisher converted another layup at the 1:33 mark to keep the lead at seven, and HIU hit its final nine free throws to seal the win.
Fisher finished with 14 points and a team-best six rebounds. Hopkins added 12 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
HIU shot 40.4 (21 of 52) percent for the game. The Royals were 18 of 25 at the free throw line compared to 9 of 10 for the Eagles.
Gifft led ERAU with 16 points.
The Royals improved to 21-5 overall and 11-3 in the Great Southwest Athletic Conference. The Eagles fell to 15-11 and 8-6 in league play.
HIU enters the final week of regular season play, hitting the road for a Thursday, February 19 game at Park Gilbert. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (PT).
