The Knights dropped an 83-70 loss to archrival and top-ranked Hope on Saturday, moving their record to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in conference.

The game was competitive in its early stages. Senior Brian Haverdink drilled a three from the top of the key to bring the score to 11-9 early. Sophomore Tyler Kruis followed that up on the defensive end with a baseline block of Hope's Colton Overway. But Hope clawed back to take a marginal lead off an old-fashioned three point play from Nate Van Arendonk. But once again, Haverdink, playing in his final Calvin-Hope game, buried another three to put the Knights on top by two.

But Hope would mount a double-digit lead in not too long. After VanArendonk again converted three consecutive points to put the Dutchmen on top by 15. With less than four minutes to go in the half, Calvin found itself needing a spark.

That spark came in the form of 6'1" junior Bryan Powell. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the half, Powell intercepted pass from Hope's Logan Neil and darted towards the basket. Nearing the hoop, Powell elevated over Neil for an electrifying, authoritative dunk. Powell's fast break electrified the Calvin crowd, which had previously grown silent, and by halftime, the Knights had cut the deficit to eight.

The Dutchmen were able to stifle any remains of Calvin momentum after halftime. David Krombeen sank a triple three minutes into the half and Billy Seiler downed two threes in less than a minute. Soon, Hope's lead was nineteen.

Calvin would respond at various points with runs. Kruis was efficient in the paint, scoring 11 second half points. But Hope's defense was stifling, and Calvin couldn't cut the lead to single digits.

"They did a good job of taking away our inside high-low game," said Calvin Coach Kevin Vande Streek. "They forced us to take shots at the end of the shot clock."

Kruis led the Knights in scoring with 17 points. He also contributed 6 rebounds. Powell was close behind with 16 points and junior Tom Snikkers led the way on the glass with 10 boards.

Hope was led in scoring by Nate Snuggerud with 25 points while David Krombeen had 20 points.

Calvin held a 43-29 rebounding advantage but the Knights shot just 36.9 percent from the floor while Hope connected on 52.8 percent of its attempts.

Calvin travels to Angola, IN to square off against Trine on Wednesday. Calvin is currently locked in a three-way tie for second place in the MIAA standings with Adrian and Trine as all three teams are 7-5 in league play. Albion is lurking close behind at 6-6 as four teams are vying for three available spots for the upcoming four-team league tournament. Hope has already clinched the top seed.