The Hope College men's basketball team battled through physical pain and a challenging opponent with home-court advantage Friday to open the NCAA Division III Championships.

Despite an early surge by the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, the 13th-seeded Flying Dutchmen rallied to within five points early in the second half. Missed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions prevented Hope from pulling any closer.

Fourth-seeded La Crosse made the shots and grabbed the rebounds it needed to secure a 75-61 first-round victory. The MIAA Tournament champion Flying Dutchmen finished the season 18-10.

La Crosse (23-6) advanced to host fifth-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which defeated Aurora University 84-60 in Friday's opener.

"Disappointing, obviously. It's always hard when it ends," head coach Greg Mitchell said after his team competed in the NCAA Division III Championships for the 31st time, the most among Division III schools. "I think the biggest thing that we did, we played into our identity, which I appreciate so much. I think we were 1 of 15 from 3, and it's going to be hard to beat a really, really good team when you don't make shots. They made shots, and we did not."

Sophomore forward Orion Yant (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland West) scored a game-high 22 points, two shy of his career high. Yant also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots.

Senior guard Justice Mims (Rochester Hills, Michigan / Rochester Adams) chipped in 10 points and four steals.

Hope, which scored the game's first eight points, finished shooting 34.8% from the field (24 of 69) and 10.5% from 3-point range (2 of 19).

La Crosse shot 39.7% (23 of 58) and made seven 3-pointers. The Eagles also doubled up Hope at the free-throw line, shooting 78.6% (22 of 28).

After the Flying Dutchmen's early run, La Crosse scored 27 of the game's next 33 points over an eight-minute span to take a 27-14 lead.

Two-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year Sam Grieger and JJ Paider led La Crosse with 16 points apiece. Four Eagles grabbed seven rebounds, including Grieger and Paider.

Despite a 15-point halftime deficit, Hope quickly battled back to start the second half and threatened La Crosse. The Flying Dutchmen banded together despite dealing with banged-up leaders such as Wourman and junior All-MIAA forward Parker Hovey.

The early rally and relentless second-half play embodied Flying Dutchmen basketball, according to Mims and fellow senior Marcus Wourman.

"People look at our numbers and things of that nature and probably wouldn't be too high on us, but the word we emphasize is grit, and it's been that way the whole year," Wourman said. "We've had stretches throughout the whole year where we were down. I think one thing you can always count on for Hope basketball is just how hard everybody plays and the way we play together. … That's just because of the love that everyone has for each other."

Added Mims: "I was saying in the locker room before we even came here this has been the hardest-working team I've ever been a part of," he said. "Even from the preseason, I knew from the moment we were doing the group workouts at six in the morning and on the sandy beach, it was just a different type of energy. When you have players that work that hard, it's very easy to make sure you want to pour into the underclassmen."