Jacket Basketball falls in season opener

ANDERSON, Ind.—The Defiance College Men’s Basketball squad dropped their season opener 61-74 to Wilmington College in the first round of the Anderson Tip-off Tournament in Anderson, Indiana on Friday afternoon.

Senior forward Matt Laudick led the Jackets with 18 points, while sophomore forward Matt Muratori topped all players with 12 rebounds. Sophomore point guard C.J. Johnson hit for 16 points with three three-pointers, as did senior guard Curt Croy who tallied 14 points. Sophomore Bryan Post added seven points and five boards in a losing effort.

The Jackets could not find an answer for the Quakers’ Eric Stirling who led all scorers with 22 points, as Wilmington secured a 42-18 scoring advantage in the paint and outscored DC 32-8 off of turnovers. Defiance also could not muster any bench points while the Quaker reserves hit for 22.

Muratori, Post and Laudick helped the Jackets gain a 38-26 advantage on the boards, but were unable to compete with the 53% shooting by Wilmington or recover from committing 24 turnovers to WC’s 12.

Johnson got the Jackets out of the gate, hitting an triple and a free-throw to lift the Jackets to a 6-2 lead two minutes into the game. The Quakers, however, went on an immediate 14-0 run, capitalizing on seven Jacket turnovers over a four-minute span to take a 16-6 advantage with 12 minutes left in the first half. Croy helped get the Jackets back in the game with a lay-up and a trifecta in the last six minutes of the period to bring the score to 30-37 at the half.

Two Laudick lay-ups, one off a Post assist and one from Croy, cut the deficit to five, 34-39 with 18:30 remaining. The Jackets then went on another run of seven turnovers over the next eight minutes and the Quakers capitalized by taking the biggest lead, 15, of the game with ten minutes left and cruising to the double-digit win.

The Jackets (0-1, 0-0 HCAC) will take on Thomas More College tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. in the second round of the AU Tip-off.