Strong finish leads Men’s Hoops to 73-67 win over Hope

Box Score

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Kyle Steigenga (SO/Holland, Mich.) earned Tournament MVP honors for the second straight year and he was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Michael McLaughlin (JR/Grand Rapids, Mich.) as the duo led the No. 1 ranked Golden Eagles to a 73-67 win over Hope College to claim the 2015 GR Sports Hall of Fame Classic title. The victory is the eighth in a row for Cornerstone as they will get back into WHAC play on Wednesday at home vs. Aquinas College.

Game Flow
It was the Kyle Steigenga show early as the sophomore scored the first seven points and Cornerstone jumped out to an 11-8 lead. The point to reach 11 came at the 16:50 mark and CU then went without one for 8:02 as Hope pulled ahead 17-11. That lead grew to 27-17 with 6:24 to play in the first half but the Golden Eagles ended with a 16-8 run to cut the margin to just two (35-33) at the break.

Hope, who defeated defending NCAA DIII champion Wisconsin Stevens Point last week, opened the second half on fire as they put their lead back into double-digits at 49-38 but then the play of Michael McLaughlin brought CU back in a hurry. The junior guard scored 10 out of CU's 15 points during a run that ended with a Dilon Aten (FR/Dorr, Mich.) three-pointer to force the Dutch into a timeout leading 51-49.

After upping their lead back to eight with 9:55 to play at 59-51, CU slowly crawled back in as McLaughlin scored five straight points for CU that was followed by a triple from Travis Wells (SR/Eaton Rapids, Mich.) to make it 66-64 with 2:53 to play. One more free-throw by Hope put the score at 67-64 but CU finished the game by scoring the last nine points to claim their fifth title in the Classic's 20 year history.

Say What?
"That was a fight between two really good teams. Neither team gave an inch and we had to work for every point. Mike stepped up huge for us and this is a quality win over a tremendous program." – Head coach Kim Elders

By the Numbers
27 – Kyle Steigenga matched his point total from the first night
19/9 – Michael McLaughlin had a career high 19 points and pulled down 9 rebounds as well
6 – Assists from Travis Wells – which matches a career high from 2014-15
43-33 – Cornerstone outrebounded Hope by 10
2 – the deficit at halftime was only the second time CU has trailed at halftime this season

Up Next
Cornerstone will remain at home on Wednesday, December 2 as they resume WHAC play against Aquinas College at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the Golden Eagle Sports Network.

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