The Hope men's basketball team made sure head coach Matt Neil enjoyed his 53rd birthday.
Sophomore guard Ben Gardner of Carmel, Ind. (Carmel HS), buried the go-ahead layup with six seconds remaining lifted the Flying Dutchmen to their first victory of the season on Friday at the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Classic.
The Flying Dutchmen (1-2 overall) beat Aquinas 69-67 at Calvin in a game that featured 11 lead changes and five ties.
Gardner's last of a team-high 18 points gave Hope a 68-67 lead and came after sophomore forwardBrock Benson of Willowbrook, Ill. (Hinsdale South HS), swiped the ball away from Aquinas guard Anthony Williams with 16 seconds remaining.
Hope chose not to a call time out and got the ball in Gardner's hands.
"Ben is capable of making good choices. At that point, I feel pretty good with the ball in his hands," Neil said. "We set a ballscreen. That's what we would have drawn up anyway. Rather than letting them set their defense or get in a flow, we were taking the chance. We were able to go with the flow. Ben found an angle to the basket and had a great score.."
Gardner said he did not want to wait too long to shoot.
"Driving always has been my game," Gardner said. "I didn't want to wait until the last second just in base I happened to miss. I took it to the lane and was pretty happy."
Hope scored the final five points of the game to answer a 3-pointer from Aquinas senior Kolin Kazen with 1:03 remaining.
Senior center Nate VanArendonk of Grand Haven (Grand Haven HS) put down a wide-open dunk 20 seconds after Kazen's 3 to cut the Flying Dutchmen's deficit to 67-66.
After Gardner's basket, Aquinas committed a turnover on an inbounds feed to center court that senior forward Grant Neil of Holland (West Ottawa HS) retrieved. He went to the line and split his foul shots, making the first.
Aquinas (3-4 overall) could not get a shot off before the final buzzer.
The Flying Dutchmen rallied from being down seven points three times over the final 8:52, including the last with 6:40 remaining.
"I'm proud of the way we hung in together," Matt Neil said. "It was a gritty game. Aquinas was everything we thought they were — tough, physical (and) aggressive. "
Three other Hope players scored in double figures — junior guard Corey McMahon of Glenview, Ill. (Glenbrook South HS) and Benson with 11 apiece and VanArendonk with 10.