Road Struggles Continue on Hardwood for DC Men

BLUFFTON, Ohio – The Yellow Jackets appeared poised to secure their first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory of the season, but were outscored by a 31-18 margin over the game's final 12:52 in a 73-67 loss at Bluffton on Wednesday evening.

A pair of rookie reserves sparked Defiance early, as Travis Schomaeker and Drew Frizell combined for eight-straight points for the Purple and Gold, lifting the visitors to a 20-15 lead midway through the opening period.

The Jackets would maintain the lead with a 38-35 edge at the break, before opening up a 49-42 cushion on another Frizell triple with 12:52 left in the final stanza.

Bluffton surged back with the next seven points of the contest and the two sides traded shots over the next several minutes. The home Beavers finally broke through however, grabbing their first lead since a three-point spread six minutes into the first half with a reverse layup from Josh Fisher that put the Jackets down by a 57-55 margin with 6:39 to go.

Another Fisher layup would widen the gap to three and a pair of free throws from Fisher put Bluffton up, 64-59, with just under four minutes showing on the clock. A Brent Farley tip-in hoop then put Defiance in a seven-point hole with 2:41 to go.

The Jackets would battle back from their largest deficit of the evening, narrowing the gap to three points with 19 ticks remaining, before running out of time in the 73-67 defeat.

Bluffton outscored Defiance by 11 from the charity stripe to fuel the second-half rally and held a seven-rebound edge over the Jackets on the glass. The struggles were compounded by poor shooting after the break, as DC followed a 14-of-28 performance in the opening stanza by shooting just 37.9 percent with only one three-point shot made in the final 20 minutes of work.

Mason Roth paced DC with 15 points, five assists and two steals, while Kyle Tietje ended with 12 points and seven boards and Anthony Brown added 11 tallies.

Defiance (4-8, 0-5 HCAC) fell for the sixth-straight time away from the Karl H. Weaner Community Center with the loss and has now dropped 10 of its last 12 contests away from its familiar planks.

The Jackets will return home on Saturday in search of their first league victory, as they are set to welcome No. 25 Transylvania (11-1, 5-0 HCAC) for a 3:00 pm start.