Wolfrum Spurs Second-Half Charge Past Manchester

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit on Wednesday night to secure a critical, 57-56, win over Manchester inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center.

The Jackets were outscored by a 26-10 margin in the paint over the first 20 minutes of action and found themselves in a 23-13 hole midway through the opening stanza, before narrowing the gap to 33-26 by the break.

Defiance opened the second period on a 10-2 spurt to grab a 36-35 lead and continued to take advantage of costly miscues from the Spartans to open up a 43-39 lead after the Spartans fourth turnover in the opening 7:52 of the half.

The lead flipped back in favor of the visiting Manchester squad with 10 of the next 12 points, before DC dug in on the defensive end and held the Spartans to only seven points over the final 7:13 of action.

Back-to-back layups from Logan Wolfrum and Anthony Brown knotted the game at 51-51 and another Wolfrum deuce drew the Jackets even once again at 53-53 with 3:40 left on the clock. Wolfrum then found Ryan Hicks for a baseline jumper that gave DC the 55-54 edge, before Manchester's final hoop of the night put the Jackets in a one-point deficit with 1:45 to go.

Each side came away empty over their next two possessions to set the stage for one final chance from Defiance. Jeff Hugan pulled down a defensive rebound with 10 seconds left and handed the ball off to Wolfrum, who went the length of the court and hit a pull-up jumper from just inside the left wing to put DC in front by a single point with 2.8 ticks left.

Manchester had one last chance but saw Jason Spindler's jumper at the horn come up short and seal the thrilling, 57-56, victory for Defiance.

Wolfrum highlighted the strong second half with 13 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block in 20 minutes and ended the contest with 18 points and nine helpers in 38 minutes of work. Wolfrum's 18 points pushed the junior guard past the 1,200-point barrier for his career and into 25th on DC's all-time scoring chart with 1,212 points.

Brown added 16 points to end one tally shy of reaching 1,100 for his career and Hugan ended with six points and seven boards in his second collegiate start.

Spindler led Manchester with a game-high 24 points and fueled MC's inside attack that saw the Spartans net 50-of-56 points from inside the paint or the charity stripe. The Jackets stepped up their interior defense down the stretch however, limiting MC to 23 points on 32.0-percent shooting from the field in the second half.

Defiance (8-12, 4-9 HCAC) will face Mount St. Joseph (7-13, 3-10 HCAC) on Saturday. Tip is set for 4:00 pm inside the Hive and the game will be aired by the Yellow Jacket Sports Network at www.DefianceAthletics.com/mediazone/sportsnetwork.