Johnson Joins 1,000-Point Club, Leads DC Past Hornets

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – C.J. Johnson netted a pair of career milestones on Sunday as he led Defiance to a 79-69 road victory over Kalamazoo. Johnson set a new career high with 37 points and ended the day with 1,004 career points to become the 41st member of DC’s 1,000-point club.

Johnson paced a hot-shooting Yellow Jacket squad by connecting on 13-of-19 shots from the floor and four-of-six attempts from beyond the arc. Defiance blistered the nets to the tune of a 61.5-percent clip from the field in the first half as a team and ended up shooting 54.5 percent for the game.

Despite the accurate shooting, Kalamazoo had the Jackets on their heels early as the Hornets held first-half leads of five or more points on three separate occasions in the early moments of the game.

Back-to-back treys from Johnson and Anthony Jackson lifted Defiance to a 6-1 lead before Kalamazoo went on a 14-3 spurt to build a 15-9 advantage with 15:20 on the clock. Two more long-distance buckets from Heath Armstrong and Nate Helton drew DC even at 15-15, but another KC rally pushed the spread back to five at 24-19.

A jumper from Johnson snapped the skid and ignited an 11-6 DC run which gave the Jackets a 30-24 lead with 6:52 left in the half. Each side continued to trade punches over the next several minutes before a layup from Helton gave Defiance a 36-34 lead with 1:42 on the clock. Defiance would never relinquish the lead from that point on and entered the half with a slim 40-37 lead.

DC extended its lead to double figures at 56-46 before seeing Kalamazoo trim the spread to five points. Johnson would take over from there, scoring nine-straight points for the Jackets and pushing the cushion back to 10 with just under seven minutes to play.

Johnson would go on to score 16 of the final 23 points of the game for Defiance to hold the Hornets at bay and preserve a 79-69 victory for the Yellow Jackets.

Johnson’s 37 points led all scorers and his three steals were also a game high. The senior guard is the 41st player in school history to surpass 1,000 points in his career and the first since Curt Croy accomplished the feat in 2006.

Defiance had eight other players dent the scoring column as Anthony Pettaway added nine points in 11 minutes, while Jackson and Bryan Post each tacked on seven and Armstrong and Helton each had five.

Defiance (2-2) will host a pair of games this week, starting with a non-conference tilt with Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday at 7:30 pm. DC will then open up its HCAC schedule on Saturday when it welcomes Anderson to the Weaner Community Center at 3:00 pm.