FULLERTON, Calif. - Jessup men's basketball responded well after being off for over 10 days as they led most of the second half on the road at No. 15 and undefeated Hope International Thursday night. But a late push by the Royals proved to be the difference as the Warriors fell 71-67 in their conference opener.

Coach Lance Von Vogt said while his team (5-3, GSAC 0-1) came up a short in the end, he's still happy with the way they performed, "I am really proud of how we battled tonight. Down in numbers and size, we still competed for 40 minutes. We have some things to clean up but we had great shots in the second half many of which just didn't fall for us tonight."

From the opening tip, both teams seemed evenly matched as they traded baskets the first 10 minutes of the game. By the 10:28 mark, Jessup held a 14-11 lead following a jumper from Sam Howlin. 

Later in the half, after the Royals tied it up at 19, until the Warriors went on a 6-0 run extending their lead to 25-19 with 6:43 left in the half. 

The Warriors took the momentum after a dunk by Luis Medearis and a lay-up from Jaylen Johnson giving Jessup a 10-point advantage, 37-27.  

At the half, the Warriors led 40-31 and they would continue that momentum in the first 5 minutes of the second half. Jayden DeJoseph hit a three to extend the Warriors lead back to eight and Austin Dill continued that trend connecting on a jumper to go up 47-39.

Things continued in the Warriors' favor when Medearis hit a three giving them an 11-point advantage at the 12:26 mark, but the Royals would answer with a run of their own, 17-6 run to regain the lead with just 6-minutes remaining.

With under two minutes left the Royals would hit a jumper grabbing a 67-65 lead and never looked back as they held on for the four-point victory.

On the night the Warriors were led by Medearis and DeJoseph as the duo combined for 35 points on 48-percent shooting (12-25). DeJoseph led all scorers going 4-for-8 from three off the bench. Dill rounded out Jessup's double-figure scorers with 12 points, while Dill and Medearis tied for a team-high six rebounds.

As a team, the Warriors shot 34-percent (22-64) from the field and 83-percent from the free-throw line (15-18).

Von Vogt also said, "It's not often you shoot 22-percent from the field in the second half and lead until the final minute of the game, but I believe that speaks to our toughness and desire to play even when the shots aren't falling and that's something we will learn from."

The Warriors will look to rebound on the road looking for their first conference win Saturday when they face Life Pacific at 2 p.m.