HCAC Tabs Pettaway as Men's Basketball Player of the Week

GREENWOOD, Ind. – Anthony Pettaway turned in two more 20-point performances to lead Defiance to a pair of crucial Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victories and has been selected as the league's player of the week.

Pettaway passed C.J. Johnson (2004-08) for 15th on DC's all-time scoring list with 1,388 career points and netted 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in DC's wins over Mount St. Joseph and Rose-Hulman. The senior center turned in his fourth and fifth 20-point performances of the year and was at his best in the final 20 minutes of each contest, where he connected on 12-of-17 shots and piled up 29 points.

Pettaway turned in a season-high 23 points and yanked down a game-high 14 rebounds on Wednesday to lead Defiance to its first win at MSJ since Jan. 17, 2004. Pettaway's eighth double-double of the season was highlighted by 15 points and seven boards in the second stanza, as he helped the Jackets overcome a 10-point deficit to pull out a 68-64 win.

The second-half heroics continued on Saturday, as Pettaway poured in 14 points on seven-of-10 shooting after the half to help DC hold on for a 78-67 win over Rose-Hulman. The Toledo, Ohio, native ended with a game-high 20 points to go with nine boards and a pair of blocks. After a 12-0 run by the Engineers had trimmed the Defiance lead to five, Pettaway took over the game by canning six of DC's next seven buckets to hold R-H at bay and push the lead back into double digits to stay with 1:52 left in the game.

The HCAC Player-of-the-Week honor is the fourth for the reigning HCAC and Midwest District Player of the Year, who needs just 12 more points to reach the 1,400-point plateau for his career.

Pettaway and the Jackets (16-7, 11-3 HCAC) can position themselves to win the 26th conference championship in program history with wins in their last two games. DC will host Bluffton on Wednesday at 7:30 pm, before closing the regular season on Saturday at Franklin.