Defiance Wins HCAC Regular Season Championship

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance faced a seven-point deficit with 3:21 to go in the game, but closed on a 14-2 tear to seal its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship with a thrilling 64-59 victory over Transylvania.

The title is the first for a Defiance College men’s basketball team since the 2000-2001 season and is DC’s first outright league championship since posting back-to-back undefeated seasons in the Association of Mideast Colleges during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 campaigns. The 2007-08 crown will also go down as the 25th league championship in the rich history of the program.

Defiance was led by yet another outstanding effort from Anthony Pettaway in the paint. The junior center scored the first six points of the game for the Yellow Jackets and would eventually notch his fifth-straight game with over 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Despite the early scoring from Pettaway, each defense was on top of its game as both sides managed only 10 points in the first 6:35. Matthew Parton then gave Transylvania a 13-10 lead on a trey and the Pioneers built a 20-14 advantage behind a 10-4 flurry.

TU maintained control of the game over the next several minutes and held a 25-20 lead with 3:15 remaining in the half, as Defiance continued to struggle to find its mark on offense. Pettaway netted 12 of DC’s first 20 to keep the Jackets close and late hoops from Nick Sales, Heath Armstrong and Nate Helton provided a late spark.

Buckets from Sales and Armstrong trimmed the Transy lead to 25-24 with 2:37 to play in the half and treys from Armstrong and Helton in the final minute sent Defiance to the break with the 30-27 advantage.

The teams continued to go back and forth during the second stanza, with neither team gaining a lead of more than five points until a layup from Brock Jones lifted the Pioneers to a 57-50 lead with 3:21 left on the clock.

That would end up being Transylvania’s last basket of the game, as Defiance began to apply full-court pressure on the Pioneers that resulted in a quick 10-0 spurt by the Jackets. DC jumped into the press after a pair of Pettaway free throws made it a 57-52 game and an immediate TU turnover resulted in a conventional three-point play from Pettaway to draw DC within two.

Defiance then forced another Transy miscue and followed it up with a layup from Sales and a three-point play from C.J. Johnson to cap the 10-0 run and give DC the 60-57 lead with 1:20 on the clock.

A pair of Pioneer free throws gave Defiance the ball with a one-point lead and 50 seconds left in the game. The Jackets had a shot knocked out of bounds with 23 seconds to play, before calling a timeout to set up the crucial in bounds play. The strategy worked as Floyd inbounded the ball to Pettaway, who sank a baseline jumper which pushed the spread to three with only 19 seconds remaining in the game.

Transy had one last chance to force a tie, but failed to get off a shot as a turnover gave the ball back to Defiance and a pair of Floyd free throws sealed the conference championship victory for the Yellow Jackets.

Pettaway shot 11-of-15 and ended with a game-high 27 points and 10 boards in 37 minutes of action. Sales turned in 11 points and six rebounds and Armstrong also provided a major lift off the bench with 10 points.

Defiance shot just 34.5 percent in the second half and only made three-of-18 attempts from beyond the arc for the game, but overcame the subpar shooting with an 18-1 advantage in second-chance points. The Jackets also held a 32-20 edge in points in the paint and outscored Transy, 18-9, in points off turnovers.

Defiance (17-6, 12-2 HCAC) will close out the regular season next week with a game at Franklin on Wednesday and a home clash with Rose-Hulman on Saturday at 3:00 pm. Johnson and Bryan Post will each be honored prior to the start of the game on Saturday in a brief Senior Day ceremony.

With the HCAC regular season championship, DC earned a first round bye in the upcoming conference tournament and will also host the semifinal and championship rounds on Feb. 29 and March 1. The semifinal games will be played at 6:00 and 8:00 pm on Friday night, with the championship game scheduled for a 7:00 pm tip on Saturday.