FULLERTON – Hope International stifled Georgia Gwinnett in Friday's NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament First Round contest, limiting the Grizzlies to 32 percent shooting in a 66-53 victory.

The Royals also held the Grizzlies to 4 of 29 shooting from distance – 13.8 percent – carrying them to their first NAIA Tournament win since 2017.

Junior Jorren Edmonds led the defensive effort with a career-high tying five steals. In addition, he posted team-bests in points (15) and rebounds (10), securing his first career double-double. Six of his 10 boards came on the defensive end.

Senior Nick Hopkins chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and a blocked shot, while JD Davis and Aman Haynes both collected 12 points off the bench.

The fifth Royal to score in double figures was CJ Fisher with 10 points.

HIU struggled from the perimeter, making 5 of 23 for 21.7 percent, but shot well over 50 percent on two-point attempts (20 of 36). The Royals shot 42.4 (25 of 59) percent overall for the game.

Patrick Johnson led the Grizzlies with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Johnson's bucket to open the game represented Georgia Gwinnett's only lead. Edmonds converted a traditional three-point play to put HIU up 5-2, and the Grizzlies went six and a half scoreless minutes. Another Edmonds jumper completed a 10-0 run at the 13:37 mark.

HIU eventually opened up a 30-14 lead as Edmonds scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half. Edmonds scored HIU's final seven points and closed the half with a three-pointer as the hosts led 35-22 at halftime.

The lead never dipped below double-digits in the second half. Devontre Chaney scored seven points during one stretch of the second half to cut the HIU lead to 51-38, but the Royals did not allow the Grizzlies any major runs.

Haynes hit back-to-back layups to keep the HIU lead steady at 61-48 with 4:44 remaining.

The 53 points allowed marked the second-fewest by an HIU team in the NAIA Tournament. The Royals held Xavier (La.) to 52 points in a nine-point win in 2014.

Third-seeded HIU advances to Saturday's second round against No. 6 seed Keiser (Fla.). The Seahawks defeated No. 11 seed Oregon Tech 94-90 in overtime in Friday's first game. The Royals and Seahawks tip-off at 6:00 p.m.