Holland, Mich. - The Alma College men's basketball team suffered its first defeat in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play on Wednesday (Jan. 11) night, falling by an 88-77 margin to Hope College at the DeVos Fieldhouse. Alma is now 6-8 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA, while Hope improves to 10-4 and 3-0 in league play.

Senior Trevor Gernaat (McBain, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian/Mid-Michigan CC) paced Alma with 17 points, hitting six of his nine shots, including all three from behind the arc, as Alma shot 55.6 percent from the floor. The Scots also made nearly 65 percent of their shots from behind the arc, sinking 11 of their 17 three-point attempts.

Four other players reached double-figures, including senior Tyler Edwards (Flint, Mich./Swartz Creek), who scored 16 points and collected a team-best eight rebounds. Freshman Steven Harvey (Grand Rapids, Mich./Ada) has a terrific shooting night, making five of his six shots, including each of his three three-point attempts, to score 13 points.

Dante Hawkins led the Flying Dutchmen with a game-high 29 points, while Cody Stuive posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds as Hope out rebounded Alma by a 36-28 margin and limited the Scots to one offensive board.

The game was tied at 38-38 after the first half and Alma jumped out to a five-point lead early in the second before Hope responded, tying the game at 49-49 with 15:54 to play. A three-pointer by Hawkins gave the Dutch the lead, but Edwards came back with a three of his own to tie the game at 52-52 with less than 14 minutes to play. From there, Hope put together a 12-1 run that put the Dutch up by 11 with nine minutes to play.

The Scots were able to pull within six points with seven and a half minutes to play, but an 8-0 run by Hope in response kept the game out of reach.

Alma will return to Art Smith Arena on Saturday, Jan. 14, to host Calvin College, Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.