C.J. Johnson led the charge, netting the first 10 points of the half for the Yellow Jackets to trim the Heidelberg lead to 45-40.
After an Anthony Jackson three and a Floyd jumper brought Defiance to within two, Johnson drilled a pair of long-range shots to make it a one-point game at 52-51 with 13:36 left on the clock.
A bucket from Anthony Pettaway completed the comeback and put DC in the lead for the first time since holding a 20-19 edge at the 9:14 mark of the opening frame.
Jake Hessey temporarily halted the Defiance surge with a jumper, but Johnson provided an immediate answer with a layup on the Jackets’ next possession for a 55-54 lead.
The score stayed in DC’s favor until Andrew Lemmon capped a 5-0 spurt and lifted Heidelberg to a 72-70 lead with 43 seconds to play.
Matt Eberle pushed the last-minute deficit to 74-71 with a steal and layup with 11 seconds remaining, but a Heidelberg foul on a three-point attempt with two ticks left on the clock sent Floyd to the charity stripe with a chance to tie.
The freshman point guard sank his first chance to draw DC back within two before missing his second chance. Floyd then intentionally missed the third, but hauled in his own rebound and hit a jumper with 0.3 seconds on the clock to knot the score at 74-74 and force overtime.
Floyd struck again in overtime, answering a quick HC start with a three to tie the game at 79-79 and then sank a two-point bucket on DC’s next trip down the court for an 81-80 lead.
The Jackets held on from there, finishing off the come-from-behind, 87-82 overtime victory.
Floyd provided the late heroics, scoring nine of his 17 points in the final two seconds of regulation and overtime period and added six assists and six rebounds.
While Floyd finished the comeback, Johnson ignited the rally by scoring DC’s first 10 points of the second half and poured in 22 of his game high 28 points after the break. The junior guard went 10-of-19 from the floor and five-of-nine from long range.
Pettaway and Nick Sales also cracked double figures for the Jackets as Pettaway ended with 13 points and eight rebounds and Sales had 11 points and four boards.
Heidelberg got 23 points and 13 rebounds from Brian Schmidt off the bench on 10-of-11 shooting while Greg Tyson and Ron Higgins added 13 and 12 points each.
Defiance answered a slow start by shooting 53.8 percent over the game’s final 25 minutes and overcame a 44-37 deficit on the boards by committing only 10 turnovers in the game.
The win improves DC to 2-1 on the young season. The Jackets will take the holiday weekend off before hosting Manchester on Nov. 29 in their HCAC opener. Tip is set for 7:30 pm in the Weaner Community Center.
