Late Rally Falls Short as DC Loses, 69-68, to Roanoke

ORLANDO, Fla. – One night after bouncing the No. 13 team in the nation, Defiance nearly overcame a 51-31 second-half deficit against Roanoke, before falling by a single point in its second game at the RDV Sportsplex Tournament.

The Maroons jumped out to a 6-0 lead before DC responded with an 18-6 rally, capped by a three from Heath Armstrong, to claim its largest lead of the game at 18-12 with 10:48 to play in the opening stanza.

Defiance would go ice cold over the final 10 minutes of the half and make just one-of-11 attempts during that span while committing five turnovers. Roanoke countered by catching fire and closed the half on a 32-8 run while sinking 14 of its last 18 shots of the half to take a commanding 18-point lead into the intermission.

The lead swelled to a game-high 20-point spread at 51-31 with 17:27 to play in the game before the Jackets began their frantic comeback attempt led by a sniper-like shooting stretch from Armstrong.

A trey from Armstrong stopped a mini 5-0 rally by the Maroons and cut the deficit to 17 and the hot-shooting sophomore was only beginning to warm up. Armstrong would fuel a 19-4 Yellow Jacket rally over the next four minutes by canning three shots from beyond the arc and sinking another jumper for 11 points on four-of-four shooting. When the smoke had cleared, Defiance found itself back in the game and only trailing 55-50 with just under 12 minutes left on the clock.

Roanoke managed to temporarily hold the Jackets at bay and maintain a spread of five-or-more points over the next several minutes until consecutive layups from Anthony Pettaway brought DC within a pair at 62-60 with 6:47 to play. After a Roanoke free throw make it a three-point game, Armstrong dialed up again from long distance to complete the comeback and knot the score at 63-63.

Despite the flurry to draw even, Defiance could not quite get over the hump as Roanoke scored the next four points and led, 67-63, with 1:31 left. Once again the Jackets battled back, as hoops from Nick Sales and Pettaway sandwiched a Maroon free throw to make it 68-67 with 19 seconds to play.

DC had its final opportunity after Roanoke missed a free throw and C.J. Johnson pulled down the rebound to set up the final possession of the game for the Jackets facing a 69-67 deficit. Defiance missed a three-point shot but Sales hauled in the offensive rebound before getting fouled and sent to the line with a chance to force overtime. Sales connected on the first before missing the second and Roanoke escaped with the 69-68 victory.

Armstrong was the story in the loss as he took over the game with 17 points in the second half and ended with a game and career-high 22 points on six-of-nine shooting from three-point range. The Fayette, Ohio, native averaged 14.5 points a game for the tournament and shot 63.6 percent from beyond the arc en route to earning a spot on the SDV All-Tournament Team.

Pettaway turned in his fourth-straight double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Johnson reached double figures once again with 12 points and added a career-best six steals to go with four assists and three rebounds in 35 minutes.

Defiance (6-4) will now take nine days off for the holidays before returning to action when it host the 33rd-Annual Purple and Gold Tournament on Dec. 29 and 30. The Saturday games will feature Loras and Tri-State at 6:00 pm and DC against Thiel at 8:00 pm. Sunday’s consolation game will be at 1:00 pm and will be followed by the championship at 3:00 pm.

Single-game tickets and tournament passes will be sold at the door. Adults can purchase a tournament pass for $8 or a single-day ticket for $6, while the cost for students and senior citizens will be $6 for the tournament pass and $4 for a single-game ticket. All junior high and high school students will be admitted free.