The Hope College men's basketball brought relentless energy to DeVos Fieldhouse on Saturday night, overwhelming Franklin College 79–59 to stay unblemished at 2–0.
The Flying Dutch seized momentum from the opening tip in DeVos Fieldhouse, leveraging an aggressive interior attack to build a 41–31 halftime cushion.
Hope's relentless pursuit on the glass and aggression in the paint proved entirely overwhelming for Franklin, as the Flying Dutch racked up 58 points in the paint and converted 20 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.
Head coach Greg Mitchell says the focus on rebounding has been intentional.
"The purposeful and intentional toughness on all free balls is kind of what we're trying to put our identity into right now," ghe said.
Hope's bench provided a continuous spark, outscoring Franklin's reserves 31–21 and preventing the Grizzlies from mounting any sustained comeback.
"We know [our team] is deep, and our players trust that we are deep," Mitchell said. "We just want us, collectively, to do things the right way, and there has been a lot of humility as our guys don't care who gets the credit."
Sophomore Brendan Cargill (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central HS) spearheaded the scoring effort with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and a 5-for-7 mark at the charity stripe.
Junior Orion Yant (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland West) joined Cargill in double figures, delivering 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line, and a team-high 8 rebounds.
Sophomore Sean Wesolek (Bay City, Michigan / John Glenn) and junior Carter Bishop (Holt, Michigan / Holt) offered efficient scoring bursts off the bench with 8 and 6 points respectively.
Hope returns to home court on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 5 p.m, hosting No. 13 Elmhurst University at DeVos Fieldhouse.
