Floyd Pours in 27 in Overtime Loss at Bluffton

BLUFFTON, Ohio – A pair of Matt Muratori baskets in the final 29 seconds of regulation finished off an 11-point Defiance comeback in the second half and drew the Jackets even at 84-84, but it was all Bluffton in the extra session. The Beavers poured in 19 points in overtime on five-of-seven shooting and pulled out the 103-93 conference win over DC.

The Jackets started quickly, jumping to the 9-0 lead behind six points from C.J. Johnson, but the host Bluffton squad rallied back to force the game’s first tie at 16-16. It was neck and neck from there as BU took a slim 39-37 lead into the break.

The lead hovered between one and six points for Bluffton over the first 10 minutes of the second half before a 10-0 Beaver surge pushed the spread to 72-61 with 8:44 to play in the game.

Defiance answered with a quick 6-0 spurt of its own on a three-point play from Johnson and a traditional three from Mike Floyd to cut the lead to five.

Defiance completed the comeback several minutes later as a layup and trey from Floyd drew the Jackets to within one, before a Nick Sales hoop capped a 9-0 run which gave DC the 78-77 lead with 3:09 showing on the clock.

Bluffton managed to regain control at 83-80 with 1:45 to play, but Muratori sandwiched a Beaver free throw with a pair of buckets to draw DC even at 84-84 and force the overtime period.

The Jackets never led in the extra frame as BU’s Eric Schwieterman made a breakaway layup off a DC turnover for the 86-84 lead. Anthony Pettaway trimmed it to a single point on a free throw, but Bluffton scored the next six points and went on to hand Defiance the 103-93 loss.

Floyd led all scorers and set a new career high with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting. The freshman point guard drilled seven-of-15 attempts from three-point range and dished out four helpers.

Pettaway and Sales each turned in double-double performances for the third-straight game as Pettaway went for 16 points and 11 boards, while Sales posted 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Johnson and Muratori also cracked double figures with 17 and 10 points.

Bluffton (7-1, 2-0 HCAC) was led by 23 points from Colt Cunningham and 22 off the bench from Nick Wilson.

Defiance (4-2, 2-1 HCAC) will round out its early-season wave of HCAC action when it hosts Hanover on Saturday at 3:00 pm.