ANGOLA, Ind.-- The Trine men's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle to No. 7 Hope 57-50 Wednesday night in Hershey Hall.

The Thunder kept up with one of the best teams in the nation for most of the game largely thanks to leading scorer Jared Holmquist (Reed City, Mich./Reed City), who surpassed 1,400 points for his career with a 24-point outing. He also added 7 rebounds. Harrison Blackledge led the Flying Dutchmen with 11 points. Hope had very balanced scoring as nine players got on the board. The Thunder fell to 15-7 overall, 5-6 in the MIAA. Hope improved to 20-2 overall, 10-1 in conference play.

Kyle Dodson (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) added eight points and Ellis Cummings (Ottawa Hills, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) added seven rebounds for Trine. Jordan Kreglow (Gibsonburg, Ohio/Gibsonburg) also provided a spark off the bench with six points in 23 minutes. The Thunder were efficient from the line (13-of-15), which helped them keep pace with the Dutchmen.

Ben Gardner had 10 points for Hope and Alex Eidson led all players in rebounds with eight boards. Hope's strong defense held Trine to 32 percent shooting (8-25) in the second half. They also shot 13 more free throws than the Thunder (making 20 of them) and had twice as many points off turnovers (20).

Hope led most of the game, but Trine got within three with 6:36 left in the second half thanks to a 9-0 run. Four points from Holmquist, a three by Dodson and a bucket by Cummings provided the scoring in the run. After that, the closest they got was five on the way to the seven-point loss.

The Thunder travel to Alma Saturday, February 13, to take on the Scots, who are tied for first in the MIAA with Hope at 10-1.

Article contributed by Grant Tingley, Trine University, Communications '19