Hammons’ 19 points not enough vs. Otterbein

--Westerville, Ohio—The DC men’s basketball team could not recover from a slow start in Wednesday’s 80-91 defeat at Otterbein College in the first round of the “O” Club Classic Tournament.

The Jackets fell behind 0-10 in the first two minutes of the game and did not close the gap to six until Matt Voland hit a three-pointer at the five-minute mark to make the score 29-35. Defiance fell behind by 10 again, one minute later but then went on a 14-5 run, keyed by Voland and Trent Meyer, who scored five points each in the late period surge.

DC took their only lead of the game at the beginning of the second half when Curt Croy’s jumper connected to make the score 45-44. The Cardinals, however, answered with a 9-2 run. OC’s Tony Borghese made two three pointers in the run and hit 6-of-6 from long distance in the contest.

Brett Hammons, who led DC with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, responded to Borghese’s streak, hitting three-straight shots to tie the game at 56 with 12:35 remaining. Otterbein then took command of the game, sprinting into a 14-point lead at the five-minute mark and made their late free-throws to seal the Jackets’ fate.

Matt Voland followed Hammons with 17 points and led DC with seven rebounds. C.J. Johnson added 13 points, three assists, and two steals, while Croy closed the game with nine points and a team-high five assists.

Defiance is now 7-3 on the year and will face the loser of the Greenboro (N.C.) Mt. St. Joseph match-up in Thursday’s consolation game starting at 3:00 p.m.