by Alan Babbitt

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.

Photo of Noah Hedrick by Lynne Powe

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.