KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Third-seeded Hope International staved off a furious comeback by Indiana Wesleyan with a couple of crucial baskets to close the game, earning a 71-65 victory in the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament Round of 16 on Thursday at Municipal Auditorium.

Leading by as many as 16 points in the second half, the Royals saw their lead whittled down to as little as two with a minute remaining.

CJ Fisher grabbed a key offensive rebound following a Jorren Edmonds miss with 33 seconds left. Edmonds found Addy G'Bye near the top of the key, and his three-pointer swished through the net to give the Royals a 70-65 lead with 15 ticks on the clock.

HIU forced a Wildcat turnover and G'Bye sank 1 of 2 free throws for the final margin of victory.

The Wildcats slowly had eroded HIU's double-digit lead, getting within 63-56 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Caedmon Bontrager with 3:33 to go. 

Darvelle Wyatt answered with a layup to push the lead back to nine, but DJ Moore responded with a layup to pull Indiana Wesleyan within 65-58.

Nick Hopkins then made an incredible fall away shot as he tumbled into the HIU bench, the bucket giving HIU a 67-58 lead with 2:11 to go. It seemed that would have locked up the victory, but the Wildcats scored the next seven points to pull within two, setting up G'Bye's heroics.

Wyatt was heroic in the second half, scoring 13 of his 16 points. The Royals shot 53.8 (14 of 26) percent in the second half.

IWU came in averaging 82.5 points per game and were held 17 points below its average. The 65 points scored was the second-fewest for the Wildcats in a game this season.

The Royals built a 9-0 lead in the early going as the Wildcats committed four turnovers and missed their first five shots. IWU did not score its first point until a Julius Gizzi free throw at the 14:23 mark.

HIU led 22-10, but the Wildcats outscored the Royals 15-5 the remainder of the half to trail just 27-25 at intermission. Hopkins had 11 points and three of HIU's eight steals in the first half.

The Los Angeles native finished with a game-high 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting, and he went 5 of 5 from the free throw line.

Fisher displayed his all-around game, ending up with 12 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and three steals. G'Bye had nine points, Aman Haynes eight and Edmonds seven as the Royals provided balanced scoring.

HIU advanced to the NAIA Quarterfinals for the second time in school history – and first since 2015. 

In the quarterfinals, the Royals will see a familiar foe in eighth-seeded and GSAC member Benedictine Mesa on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (PT). The Redhawks defeated Faulkner (Ala.) in double overtime earlier on Thursday.