By Mark DeHaan

The Knights suffered their first defeat of the young season on Saturday afternoon, hosting Ohio Wesleyan University in the final contest of the Great Lakes Challenge.

The Battling Bishops downed the Knights using strong three-point shooting, hitting 17-of-36 shots from beyond the arc en route to a 85-71 win over Calvin.

Despite the final margin, five minutes into the contest, the teams were deadlocked at 12-12.

Ohio Wesleyan then began to pull away. Three straight triples from the Battling Bishops put Calvin into a 24-15 hole.

A three-pointer from senior Jordan Brink cut OWU's advantage to 26-23, but a 15-2 run from the Battling Bishops brought their lead to double-digits at 41-25.

Ohio Wesleyan then closed out the half at 51-33. The Battling Bishops were 18-of-36 in the first half, including 10-of-23 from beyond the three-point arc. The Knights had 10 turnovers in the opening half compared to just three for Ohio Wesleyan.

In the second half, the Battling Bishops took a 62-40 lead with 13:42 to go for the largest margin of the game.

Junior Austin Parks began to pull the Knights back. As part of a 22-9 run, Parks hit three triples and freshman Connor VanderBrug added five points as Calvin drew to within single-digits at 71-62.

With 5:24 remaining, sophomore Michael Welch hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 76-68, but the Knights could draw no closer as Ohio Wesleyan held Calvin off to claim an 83-71 victory.

The Battling Bishops shot 50% for the game, hitting 31-of-62 attempts from the field, also making 17-of-36 from three-point range. Calvin, meanwhile, shot 44.1% on 26-of-59 shooting, including just 8-of-24 from beyond the arc for 33.3%.

For the Knights, Brink was the only player in double figures with 22 points, adding 11 rebounds. Parks and VanderBrug each contributed nine points.

For Ohio Wesleyan, Nick Felhaber scored 29 points while Claude Gray added 20. Nate Axelrod had 12 points and 11 assists.

"I hoped we learned some things this weekend. We've been talking about the turnover issue, which is just one of them," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "Losing the game isn't the be-all, end-all, but if we don't learn something from it, that's the problem. We have some work to do, no doubt about it."

Calvin drops to 2-1 overall while Ohio Wesleyan improves to 3-0.

The Knights now look forward to Tuesday when they played the Spartans of Manchester University as part of a women's basketball-men's basketball doubleheader. The women tip-off at 6 p.m., also against Manchester, with the men following at 8 p.m.