HOLLAND, Mich. -- Colton McGriff scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but the Covenant men's basketball team fell on the road to Hope College 87-73 on Friday night in the first game of the Holland Sentinel/Russ DeVette Classic hosted by Hope.
Covenant falls to 3-4 on the season, while Hope moves to 4-3. Covenant will play Grace Bible on Saturday at 1 p.m. to finish the weekend of basketball.
McGriff scored his 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line. Rosbie Mutcherson added nine points, on three 3s, while Michigan-native Jon DeVries scored eight points. Sam Bowman tallied eight points and four rebounds. T.J. Cox produced a season-high six assists.
Hope, ranked No. 7 in the D3Hoops.com Preseason Top 25, was led in scoring by Colton Overway who poured in a game-high 21 points. Overway was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and dished out six assists for the Flying Dutchmen. Nate Snuggerud posted 18 points and six rebounds. Caleb Byers and Alex Edison had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Hope led throughout the contest, but Covenant hung tough with the Division III power. Trailing by as many as 15 points in the first half, the Scots went on a 12-2 scoring run that ended with a pair of free-throws from Jake Delaney to cut the Scots' deficit to 40-35 late in the half. Hope would go into halftime up 44-35.
In the second half, Hope began to pull away from Covenant. Hope scored the first five points of the second half to gain a double-digit lead once again, but a Bryant Engbers 3-pointer shrunk Covenant's deficit back under ten at 50-41 with 17:50 left.
Hope would slowly build its lead back up to double digits, leading by as many as 19 points at one point. The Scots would only get as close as ten points the rest of the contest.
Covenant had one of its best shooting nights of the season as they connected on 50 percent (29-58) from the field. But Covenant committed 26 turnovers that turned into 27 points for Hope. The Flying Dutchmen made 48 percent (24-50) from the field, but made a living at the charity stripe making 34-of-45.
Covenant will take on Grace Bible on Saturday at 1 p.m. before heading back to Lookout Mountain.
