The Hope College men's basketball team grabbed its 16th win of the season on a sunny Saturday senior day at DeVos Fieldhouse to conclude the regular season.
With the 77-62 victory over Kalamazoo College, the Flying Dutchmen improved to 16-9 and 10-4 in the MIAA.
"Props to Kalamazoo, they are hard to guard, but I thought we played a real efficient game. We shot the ball well, hit all but one free throw, and took care of the basketball with under ten turnovers," said head coach Greg Mitchell.
The MIAA Tournament now begins on Wednesday, February 22. Pairings for the bracket will be announced on Sunday, with Hope as the No. 3 seed.
The Flying Dutchmen led for more than 90% of the game, but established true command in the second half, after leading by just five at halftime.
"It's so hard to get runs on them, so when we had a couple of clean rebounds, a steal and we were able to get a couple of run outs that don't happen very often, so when it does it feels like this is a momentum swing. I thought that was critical along with a transition dunk from Eli Schoonveld and a finish by Evan Thomas gave us that emotional lift," said Mitchell.
Evan Thomas, Clayton Dykhouse (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland HS), TJ McKenzie (Muskegon, Michigan / North Muskegon), Brady Swinehart (Ionia, Michigan / Ionia), and Harris Hawkins (Lexington, Kentucky / Henry Clay), the five members of the senior class, started the game with fire as Swinehart sunk a deep three right off the bat, followed by another three to give Hope their first nine points of the game.
"Senior days are always fun and emotional, it was cool for Brady to get us off to a great start, hit a couple threes," said Mitchell. "The seniors all contribute in their own way, and they're all such great guys, amazing leaders in the classroom and on campus, and in the locker room."
Thomas, an Okemos, Michigan native (Okemos), led the Flying Dutchmen in the win with 14 points.
Freshman Justice Mims (Rochester Hills, Michigan / Rochester Adams) and junior Gabe Quillan (Ada, Michigan / Grand Rapids Catholic Central) also grabbed double digit points for Hope with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Hope outrebounded Kalamazoo, 41-30, with Quillan snagging eight of those rebounds, along with Thomas' game-high 9 rebounds.