Defiance Nets Key Road HCAC Victory at MSJ

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Defiance College used a 20-3 rally midway through the second half to build a 19-point advantage and went on to win, 81-72, at Mount St. Joseph on Saturday. The win was DC's first road victory in league play in four tries and evened the Jackets at 3-3 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Yellow Jackets faced their lone deficit of the afternoon in the opening moments, as Kyle McCord sank a jumper to give the host Lions the early 2-0 lead. Defiance immediately rattled off nine-straight points and maintained sole possession of the lead the rest of the game, while repeatedly turning away charges from the resilient MSJ squad away.

The first of those runs from the Lions chipped away at a 25-11 Defiance lead at the 9:08 mark, as the Mount closed to within 35-32 by the break. The DC edge was then sliced to a single point on MSJ's first score of the second stanza.

Brandon Campbell provided the answer for Defiance, scoring four-straight points to widen the gap back to five. Heath Armstrong would then sink one of 10 three-point shots on the day for Defiance, before Kyle Tietje connected on a layup to lift DC to the 45-35 edge with 16:25 to go in the game.

That lead would steadily evaporate as well however, as Mount St. Joseph reeled the Jackets back to within striking distance at 55-52 with just over 10 minutes on the clock.

Defiance had the counter one more time, as Logan Wolfrum stole the ball and found Kevin Tietje for a trifecta, before dialing it up from downtown three-straight times of his own. Clayton Nieport then dropped in a three to give Defiance five triples over a span of 2:37.

The Jackets continued the onslaught by getting into the paint for deuces from Anthony Brown and Nick Sales, with Sales capping the 20-3 run with a free throw to give Defiance the 75-56 cushion with 6:49 showing on the clock.

MSJ (7-6, 2-3 HCAC) would mount one final comeback, battling to within seven points with just over one minute to play but Defiance held on for the nine-point victory.

Wolfrum led a hot-shooting attack for Defiance with 17 points on five-of-nine shooting from beyond the arc and added six assists and four rebounds. Armstrong sank three trifectas and ended with 10 points and four assists and Kyle Tietje chipped in 12 points. Sales turned in an all-around showing with 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three helpers, while Mike Floyd and Campbell each had four steals.

For the game, DC hit 51.7 percent of its field goals and knocked in 10-of-24 attempts from three-point territory. The Jackets were also efficient from the charity stripe, where they sank 11-of-13 tries for an 84.6-percent clip.

Defiance (12-3, 3-3 HCAC) will return home for its next contest, as it is slated to host Franklin (4-10, 2-3 HCAC) on Saturday, January 16 at 4:00 pm.