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Gabe Quillan holds a basketball with two hands.
Junebug Photography
Pictured, Gabe Quillan
64
Winner Hope Hope 16-11,9-5 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
62
Trine Trine 21-5,11-3 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
Winner
Hope Hope
16-11,9-5 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
64
Final
62
Trine Trine
21-5,11-3 Michigan Intercol. Ath. Assn.
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Hope Hope 36 28 64
Trine Trine 33 29 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Lukas Cimbal

Men's Basketball Fends Off Trine, Sets Up Showdown at Calvin in MIAA Title Game

Hope extends its MIAA Tournament winning streak to 11 games

There is just something about the postseason that brings out the best in the Hope College men's basketball team. 

That was shown in full-force again on Friday night, as sophomore forward Parker Hovey made two clutch free throws with 10.2 seconds remaining to give Hope the lead over 18th-ranked Trine University in the MIAA Tournament semifinals.

Junior guard Justice Mims then batted Trine's missed front end of a 1-on-1 into the corner with 2.1 seconds left to play to help the Flying Dutchmen to a gutsy 64-62 semifinal win over the Thunder, the defending national champion, at Calvin University.

It was Hope's 11th consecutive victory, across a span of four seasons, in the MIAA Tournament. The Flying Dutchmen now will play Calvin (20-6) in the title game on Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. Calvin topped The University of Olivet, 63-47, in Friday's second semifinal.

"Games like that just validate your team," head coach Greg Mitchell said. "We have so much respect for Trine and Coach [Brooks} Miller. It was a last-possession game and we're just blessed to come out on top. A lot of people say we're fighting for another game or another practice, but our guys just have so much respect for our senior class. They've kind of blazed the trail for this week of the season and we're just going to try to do whatever we can to keep it alive."

Led by senior center Gabe Quillan, Hope scored 11 of the game's final 15 points after falling behind by five with 4:10 to go.

The Flying Dutchmen won for the seventh time in eight games after falling under the .500 mark at the beginning of February. Hope now has a chance to claim a fourth consecutive MIAA Tournament title, the longest run since winning five in a row from 2007 to 2012.

"Seasons are long and stuff happens," Mitchell said. "We've been down this road before where we're dealing with injuries, not playing well, and playing against good teams. But all that matters is that guys truly appreciate this time of year. We all play and coach college basketball for this week, for this part of the season. I'm just so [darn] proud of our guys for understanding and believing that.

"Now we've got to get some rest and take care of our bodies because we're going to fight for 40 more minutes tomorrow."

Hope battled through a back-and-forth game with the Thunder.

A back-and-forth first half saw the lead change hands nine different times. The Flying Dutchmen led, 36-33, at the break as junior guard Justice Mims (Rochester HIlls, Michigan / Rochester Adams) scored 10 of 12 points for the game.

In the second half, junior guard Marcus Wourman (Lansing, Michigan/East Lansing) buried a 3 in the left corner, giving Hope its biggest lead of the game at 45-39 with 14:59 left to play. Senior guard Zach Hawes (Haslett, Michigan/Laingsburg) saved a near-certain steal at the top of the key and promptly found Wourman for an open look.

Trine, however, held the Flying Dutchmen to just eight points over the next 11 minutes, falling behind 58-53 with just over four minutes remaining in the game.

Quillan took over down the stretch. Unlike last year's semifinal triumph over Calvin where he drained seven 3-pointers, the 6-9 senior did his damage in the paint against the Thunder. 

Quillan started off his personal 7-0 run by beating a Trine double team to convert a three-point play. He then took a pass from Hovey and got free for a left-side layup and finished the spurt off by getting two defenders up in the air by faking left, faking right, and then going back to his left to rattle in a 6-foot turnaround to put Hope in front 60-58.

"I guess the way Trine guards me, they kind of put a smaller defender on me, so I just try to get position down low where I can go to work," Quillan said. "I was kind of kicking my coaches [in the second half] for a second saying 'I'm tired, I need a break,' but I stuck in there because I knew it could be my last game. Looking inward and looking at the guys in our circle, you just try to do as much as you can for the guys to your right and to your left. We've just really bought in at this time of year. We're playing a lot better basketball right now than we did earlier this season. I'm happy this is happening for us and I'm just excited to play again tomorrow."

Trine scored the next four points, but Mims drove hard to his left for a difficult off-balance 17-footer from the baseline to tie the game at 62. Quillan blocked a shot from Trine's Drew Moore off the backboard to set up Hovey's and Mims's heroics in the final 10 seconds.

"My teammates came up to me and said, 'Take a deep breath, you're gonna hit 'em,'" said Hovey, who had missed three consecutive free throws earlier in the second half. I just had to focus and step up to hit them. It's the same routine every time. We just found the right spots [offensively]. Honestly I could just throw it into Gabe and it was kind of a guaranteed assist because he was dominant out there tonight." 

Regarding the exhaustion felt by his team late in the second half, Hovey smiled and said, "We do eight weeks of conditioning where it's pretty brutal and tough, so these are the moments where you remember why you get up at 6 a.m. just to run. We all just took a deep breath and toughed it out there at the end."

Quillan played 38 of a possible 40 minutes in the game, but it didn't affect him much, as he finished 10-of-11 from the field en route to his game-high 21 points.

Hovey had a fantastic all-around game with 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. Hawes recorded three blocks in the first half as he contributed an important 19 minutes off the bench for Hope.

Moore led Trine with 14 points. Jayce Cusack added 13 and Nate Tucker chipped in 12 for the Thunder.
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