DC Completes Sweep of Ravens with 78-64 Win

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Yellow Jackets remained perfect inside the Weaner Community Center in Heartland Conference games this season by bouncing Anderson by a 78-64 margin on Saturday afternoon.

The two sides traded punches in the opening minutes, battling to a 13-13 tie with 11:58 to play in the opening frame, but Defiance found its stroke and quickly distanced itself from AU with a 20-8 spurt over the next five minutes. The Jackets drained six-of-11 shots from the floor during that stretch and converted all six attempts from the free-throw line.

The lead remained in double figures for the rest of the half, peaking at a 15-point advantage for the Jackets on a trey from Mike Floyd in the final minute, sending DC to the break with a commanding 45-30 lead.

Defiance shot an even 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of action and pulled down 11 more rebounds than the Ravens, but the biggest differential came from DC’s reserves. The Jackets’ bench netted 18 points compared to zero from AU’s backups.

The second half was more of the same for DC as the Yellow Jackets shot at a 48-percent clip and never allowed Anderson to climb any closer than 12 points over the final 20 minutes.

Bryan Post put an exclamation point on the DC victory with a breakaway dunk off of a sideline inbounds play. The rim-rattling play electrified the 1,300 fans in attendance and boosted the Defiance lead to 74-59 with 3:51 to play.

The Jackets cruised from there, finishing off the season sweep of Anderson with a 78-64 win.

Mike Floyd nailed five-of-six attempts from long range and piled up a game high 19 points while dishing out a career best eight assists. The talented freshman floor general also pulled down six rebounds and picked up one block and one steal in 31 minutes of court time.

Fellow freshman standout Nick Sales recorded his second double-double of the week with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and notched career highs of his own with those 14 boards and a trio of blocked shots.

Anthony Pettaway and Anthony Jackson also cracked double figures with 10 points each and Matt Muratori added eight of his own.

Ryan Fultz poured in 19 points to keep AU in the game and Nick Cochran added 11 in the scoring column for the Ravens.

Defiance (12-4, 6-3 HCAC) will take on Manchester and Hanover next week in a pair of road HCAC contests before returning home to host Bluffton on Jan. 31 at 7:30 pm.