Defiance Punches Ticket to HCAC Tournament Despite Loss

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance rallied from a 12-point deficit in the final four minutes of play to claw within three, but fell to Transylvania, 61-58, on Saturday inside the Weaner Community Center. The disappointment was short lived however as Hanover’s 82-68 win over Bluffton locked the Yellow Jackets into fourth place in the conference and sealed their bid into the HCAC Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets end the regular season with a 9-7 record in conference play and in a tie with Hanover in the HCAC standings. Manchester or Mount St. Joseph could also join the tie at 9-7, but DC holds the tie-breaker because of a season sweep against Hanover and a better record against the group of teams in the tie.

Defiance looked strong early, playing assertively on the defensive side of the court and controlled tempo for much of the opening half.

A 10-1 rally deep into the opening frame gave DC a 28-21 advantage with 3:58 to play in the first session, but the Jackets failed to further distance themselves by missing three-straight three-point shots in the closing minutes and Transy cut the lead to 28-23 heading to intermission.

The Pioneers opened the second half on a 7-0 spurt to grab the 30-28 lead, before Anthony Jackson tied the score at 30-30 on DC’s first score of the half.

The two sides traded leads nine times over the next 10 minutes of action before a layup from Aaron Cash gave Transy a three-point lead at 47-44 with 7:35 to play.

The lead swelled to 12 as Transylvania completed a 13-0 run to take control at 56-44 with 3:41 showing on the clock.

Consecutive hoops from Anthony Pettaway slowed the Pioneers’ momentum and a Mike Floyd layup drew DC within six points at 56-50, but Transy answered with four-straight to push its lead back to double digits before Defiance made its final surge.

Trailing by 10 with 34 ticks left in the game, a pair of sharp-shooting freshmen stepped up as Eric Stolly and Floyd knocked in back-to-back treys to make it a four-point game.

Cash made one-of-two attempts at the charity stripe to make it 61-56 with 10 seconds to play and C.J. Johnson’s hoop at the horn was too little and too late as the Jackets came up just short in the 61-58 defeat.

The long-range shots were the achilles heel for Defiance yet again as Transy hit nine-of-22 attempts from three-point range, including five-of-nine in the second frame. DC struggled from deep, connecting on 29.4 percent from beyond the arc in 17 tries.

Nic Feagan led all scorers with 23 points and Joey Searle hit three triples and ended with 15 points to fuel the Pioneer attack.

Pettaway led DC with 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds, while Stolly and Jackson also cracked double figures with 12 and 10. The 12 points from Stolly set a new career high for the rookie who is averaging 6.5 points a night in DC’s last four.

Nick Sales was held to just four points, but led all players with 10 rebounds and added two assists and a pair of blocked shots.

DC (16-8, 9-7 HCAC) will now take the week off to prepare for the HCAC Tournament on Friday and Saturday in Franklin, Ind. The Grizzlies (16-9, 11-5 HCAC) claimed the top seed away from Bluffton with a win against Anderson on Saturday and will host the two-day event.

The Jackets will play at 8:00 pm on Friday night against the top-seeded Franklin squad, with Bluffton and Transylvania doing battle in the matchup of second and third-place teams in the other semifinal at 6:00 pm.

The winners will advance to the championship game on Saturday at 7:30 pm.