GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin men's basketball team fell to Hope College 79-77 Saturday afternoon at Van Noord Arena.

Hope used a pair of free throws by senior Preston Granger with 1.8 seconds to take the lead. A desperation shot by Calvin at the buzzer was short, allowing Hope to break a five-game losing streak against the Knights dating back to 2018.

The first half featured a frenetic shoot-out with Hope holding a 50-44 halftime lead. The second half slowed with defenses digging in down the stretch.

In the first half, the Knights started their scoring with sophomore Brandon Paul (Sault Ste Marie, MI / Sault Ste Marie) getting the first five points of the game. It was close in the early minutes, but Calvin pulled away with a Thad Shymanski (Ada, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) floater through contact to give them a 11-6 lead with 16:50 left in the half. Hope's offense was picking up the intensity and hit back to back threes to give them a 18-17 lead.

Paul and Shymanksi were doing the majority of scoring for Calvin as they both hit double digits with 10:30 left in the first half. More Knights started to contribute, and senior Sam LaDuke (Ludington, MI / Ludington) hit a three as soon as he checked into the game to give Calvin a 32-29 lead with 8:45 left. Freshman Luke Scheffers (St. Charles, IL / St. Charles North) also decided to get involved with the scoring action by weaving through traffic and making a tough layup. This gave the Knights a 40-36 lead with five minutes left in the half.

Hope took over the rest of the first half with a 14-4 run to take a 50-44 lead into halftime. Shymanksi ended the half by going 7-7 from the floor and scoring 16 points while teammate Paul had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Calvin shot 20-34 from the field and 3-9 from the three-point line. They also had 12 assists heading into halftime.

The second half was underway, and freshman Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, IL / Huntley) had a tough layup through contact to tie the game at 51-51 with 17:10 left in the game. Both teams were struggling to score points as the contest continued, but Hope was able to take a 66-60 lead with 10:14 left in the game. Thad Shymanski gave the Knights a spark as he scored seven straight points and was able to cut it to a three-point deficit at 70-67.

With the game coming down to the wire, Egekeze made a layup to give Calvin a 72-71 lead with 5:35 left. Hope was able to answer with a bucket to take the lead back, but Paul hit a huge three pointer to make it a 75-73 game with 4:53 left.

Both teams struggled to score over the next four minutes. Preston Granger of Hope converted a layup with 1:32 remaining. An Evan Thomas drive pushed Hope into the lead at 77-75 with 35 seconds left.

Calvin knotted the score at 77-77 after a made layup by Egekeze with 26 seconds left. Hope misfired on a shot in the closing seconds but Granger corralled the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left. He proceeded to make two free throws to give Hope the lead and eventually the win.

The Knights were led in scoring by Brandon Paul and Thad Shymanski who both had a double double. Paul finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds. while Shymanski finished with 23 points as well and 10 assists. Uchenna Egekeze also had 18 points and 5 rebounds for the Knights. Calvin shot 48.6% from the field and 28.6% from three. They also outrebound Hope 43-40 and finished with 23 assists.

COACHES COMMENT: "It was a typical Calvin-Hope game," said Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall. "They had one more shot at it at the end than we did and that was the difference. "I think we had 4 or 5 players playing in their first Calvin-Hope game. As a player, you don't realize the intensity level (of a rivalry game) until you're a part of it for the first time. Having said that, I'm super proud of the way our guys competed. I thought we did a great job in the second half defensively. I thought their zone (defense) surprised us a bit and I'm a little disappointed in how we executed against it but at the same time, we had some really good offensive opportunities down the stretch and just didn't capitalize. I'm proud of our guys for the effort they gave today. We'll get back to work, look at the film and improve from this one moving forward."

UP NEXT: Calvin will host Olivet College on Saturday, February 6, with a 3 p.m. tipoff.