Down before the game even started and for a while during it, a shorthanded Hope College men's basketball team proved unrelenting on Monday.
The Flying Dutchmen kept attacking on both ends of the court at DeVos Fieldhouse before emerging victorious, 61-48, against Trine University, the favorite in the MIAA PreCoaches Poll.season
Hope's fifth victory in a row — without three sidelined starters — made the Flying Dutchmen the lone MIAA team unbeaten team in league play after two games.
After outscoring the Thunder by a 30-10 margin over the final 12 minutes, head coach Greg Mitchell could not have been prouder.
"I believe in all these guys. I told them COVID might reduce us to seven guys, but if we have five, I believe in them," Mitchell said. "Our guys … love to play together. When guys love to play together, you don't count them out."
Hope (9-4 overall) heads into the latest edition of The Rivalry on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at Calvin University on a season-high five-game winning streak. The Flying Dutchmen lead six MIAA teams who are 1-1 in league play, including Calvin and Trine.
It took a lot of Hope to rally past Trine (8-5, 1-1 MIAA).
Grit. Toughness. Resolve Determination. Execution.
In a defensive struggle, the Flying Dutchmen trailed 38-31 after an Aiden Warzecha layup with 11:56 remaining. It was Hope's second seven-point deficit of the second half. A game that Hope once led 19-12 with seven minutes left in the first half was on the verge of getting away from an opponent who had won six of the previous seven meetings..
A Noah Hedrick 3-pointer started a 9-0 run for the Flying Dutchmen.
After a Bryce Williams jumper evened the score at 40, an Evan Thomas jumper and another Hedrick 3-pointer launched Hope into the lead for good.
Hedrick (Indianapolis, Indiana / Covenant Christian) didn't miss after halftime, making all four of his second-half field-goal attempts, including three 3-pointers. The sophomore came off the bench to score half of Hope's points during its game-ending run and finished with a game-high 17 points.
Hedrick topped his career-high for the second consecutive game. He netted 16 in Saturday's 95-62 victory with Olivet.
"Noah hit some really big shots," Mitchell said. "He's a really good shooter who sometimes struggles to take the right shot. He is starting to take the right shot, and that makes a difference. Our guys trust him."
Thomas (Okemos, Michigan / Okemos) chipped in 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Senior Joshua Lilja (Libertyville, Illinois / Libertyville) scored nine points in his second consecutive start. Junior Clayton Dykhouse (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) added eight points and a team-high five assists.
Sophomore Eli Schoonveld (Zeeland, Michigan / Holland Christian) contributed seven points — all in the second half — eight rebounds and two blocks.
Defensively, Hope allowed a season-low 48 points. Trine shot a season-low 33.3 percent from the field (16-48) and 8.3 percent from 3-point range (1-12).
Nick Bowman's 11 points and Mitchell Geller's 10 points topped Trine.