Hope men's basketball earns first win of season, tops St. John's
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Evan Thomas made 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds to help Hope College hold on to beat St. John’s University (Minn.) 62-58 on Saturday night.
“We have a four hour drive home and it makes it easier when you win,” Hope College coach Greg Mitchell said. “Our guys are working so hard. We know how hard our schedule is. We’ll continue to grow. It’s a great feeling when you get a win.”
Jeff Bikus had a double-double for Hope with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Clayton Dykhouse and Thomas each had 13 points and Noah Hedrick had 12.
It is the first win of the season for the Flying Dutchmen, who went 1-1 in the Jack Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational, hosted by Illinois Wesleyan.
With Hope trailing by one point, Bikus drained a 3-pointer with 1:58 left in the game to give the Flying Dutchmen a 57-55 lead. He had five-straight points during a 1-minute stretch.
“We celebrated that shot in the locker room after the game,” Mitchell said. “They came storming back and we were down by one. And his three gave us the lead. That was a big, big basket.”
With 22 seconds left in the game, Thomas was fouled and made both free throws for a 61-57 lead. With 11.7 second left, he was fouled again and made 1-of-2 for a 62-58 lead.
“Those were huge free throw that he knocked down,” Mitchell said. “He was just coming off a situation where it got kind of aggressive and he was called for a technical foul and the other guy got a flagrant (foul). So (Thomas) calmed down and made the free throws to seal it.”
Hope led 30-28 at halftime after Thomas made a layup as time expired.
Hedrick scored nine of his 12 points in the first half.
“Its good to see Noah’s support off the bench,” Mitchell said. “He’s a good offensive player and he’s fearless. We needed it and he gave us a little boost.”
Ryan Thissen led the Johnnies with 19 points. They were 3-for-25 from 3-point range.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope men's basketball earns first win of season, tops St. John's
