In their first game back at DeVos Fieldhouse in almost a month, the Hope College men's basketball team pushed through adversity, but ultimately fell to North Central College (Ill.) 74-73 on Wednesday night. 

The Flying Dutchmen had three players score in double figures, led by senior TJ McKenzie (Muskegon, Michigan / North Muskegon HS) with 19 points. Freshman Marcus Wourman (Lansing, Michigan / East Lansing) added 16 points and a team-high five rebounds for Hope. Wourman sank three of six three-point attempts. Junior Tanner Wiegerink (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa) helped out with 12 points, going five for six from the field. 

Hope moves to 6-4 after a hard fought battle from the opening tip off to the end of game buzzer. 

"I'm proud of tonight's effort, we've had a lot of adversity recently, but I think this growth that we've made will hopefully pay off down the road," said head coach Greg Mitchell. 

The Flying Dutchmen pushed back against the Cardinals multiple times throughout the night, diminishing the visiting team's lead, but North Central stood strong. Hope pulled within five with just under four minutes remaining in the game after being down by as much as 13 in the second half.

 A technical foul on the Cardinals, who held a two-point lead, with 22.8 seconds left  brought senior Clayton Dykhouse to the free throw line. Dykhouse (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) swished the ball on his free shot, but the Flying Dutchmen couldn't find another successful basket during game play to complete their comeback. 

"I think the silver lining [in this game] was that they had built a large lead on us and I'm proud of our toughness, Robert Nocek and Harris Hawkins came in and really gave us a nice lift, and we continued to defend. Credit to our guys for hanging in there on a tough night," said Mitchell. 

The Flying Dutchmen return to action on Thursday, December 29 as they take on Babson College at 7 p.m. at DeVos Fieldhouse.