Men's Hoops Wins Defensive Battle at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Defiance College took one more step towards claiming its first HCAC championship since winning its 25th in school history during the 2000-01 season, by scoring a 57-40 victory at Rose-Hulman on Saturday. The win was also the 10th of the season in league play, marking the highest amount of conference victories of any Jon Miller led squad at Defiance.

The 57-40 win was also a landmark performance for the Yellow Jackets as one of their finest defensive performances of the Miller tenure. The 40-point output from Rose-Hulman was the lowest point total allowed by a DC team on the road during Miller’s five years at Defiance and its second lowest total yielded during that span. The only other time the Jackets have held an opponent to 40 points of less under Miller’s watch came via a 60-39 home win over the same Rose-Hulman squad back on Jan. 3, 2007.

With Rose-Hulman and Defiance taking the Hulbert Arena court as the top two defenses in the HCAC, the points did not figure to come easy. The two defenses lived up to the hype, but the Yellow Jacket offense was strong enough to overcome as DC controlled the action throughout.

An Anthony Jackson three-point shot erased Rose-Hulman’s only lead of the afternoon, drawing the Jackets even at 5-5 at the 16:50 mark of the opening half. The trey would ignite an 11-2 Defiance rally which was capped with a long-distance shot from Heath Armstrong to lift DC to the 13-7 advantage.

The Jackets would continue firing away from beyond the arc over the remainder of the half, with Bryan Post sinking a pair of treys and Armstrong connecting on the team’s fifth of the half to give DC a double-digit lead at 32-22 with 4:10 left in the first stanza.

Defiance would eventually take a 34-25 lead to the break, after shooting five-of-13 from three-point territory. The Jackets received a major boost off the bench with six points each from Armstrong and Nick Sales and their 12-2 edge in points off the bench was the difference in the opening 20 minutes.

Defiance tightened the reigns from long distance in the second half and began pounding the ball inside to Anthony Pettaway. The junior center responded in strong fashion, connecting on six-of-10 attempts from the floor and netting 12 of Defiance’s 23 second-half points.

Pettaway’s outburst was more than enough to protect the DC lead, as the Yellow Jacket defense nearly shut out Rose-Hulman over the final 11:15 of play. After a Ron George jumper cut the lead to 47-39 with 11:15 left in the game, Defiance did not yield another Engineer hoop the rest of the way.

Defiance took full advantage of the Rose-Hulman drought, extending its lead out to 18 points at 57-39. A free throw from George snapped DC’s 11-0 run, but was Rose-Hulman’s only point in the final 11 minutes of the 57-40 Yellow Jacket victory.

Along with limiting R-H to 15 points in the second half, Defiance outscored Rose by a 20-2 margin in the paint during the final 20 minutes and outrebounded the Engineers by a 33-17 margin for the game.

Pettaway ended the game with 21 points and 10 rebounds for his third-straight game with over 20 points and double-digit boards. Pettaway was the lone Jacket in double figures, but did not go without plenty of support.

Post notched a new season-high with eight points and added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Sales and Armstrong combined for 17 points off the bench.

C.J. Johnson was held to only six points for his lowest scoring output of the year, but countered with four steals and two assists. Johnson now has 1,299 career points and will become the 18th member of the 1,300-point club at Defiance College with his next score.

Defiance moves to 15-6 overall with the win and 10-2 in the HCAC. The Jackets will try to get one step closer to an HCAC title on Wednesday when they take on Manchester. The action will begin at 7:30 in North Manchester, Ind.