Yellow Jacket Men Defeated by Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, IND.  --  Senior Devin Mangas (Leipsic) scored a game-high 18 points in a 73-60 loss against Rose-Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game in Terre Haute, Ind.

Mangas led all players in scoring while shooting 33.3 percent (five-of-15) from the floor, including a perfect six-of-six at the free-throw line.  Joining Mangas in double figures was sophomore Randall Aikins, Jr. (Detroit, Mich./Plymouth) with 14 points and senior Michael Parker (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) with 13 points.

Senior Keandre Gilmer (Toledo/Rogers) led all players with a game-high nine rebounds despite DC being out-rebounded, 36-29, in the game.

The game began in favor of Defiance (4-11, 3-5 HCAC) who came out scoring seven straight points to lead 7-0 early.  The Yellow Jackets later matched their seven-point margin, 13-6, with 13:33 left in the first half following one-of-two free-throws by Aikins.  The DC offense then went cold as a 6:07 scoring drought allowed Rose-Hulman (6-9, 4-4 HCAC) to score 18-straight points as part of a 22-2 scoring run that resulted in a 13-point lead for the home team, 28-15, at the 6:35 mark.

The Fightin' Engineers would never trail in the game again and went on to lead by as many as 15 points, 38-23, with just under a minute-and-a-half to go in the first half.  A three-pointer by Parker, followed by a layup by Holmes, ended the scoring, but the Jackets still trailed by 10 points, 38-28, at the intermission.

Defiance stayed within striking distance in the first 10 minutes of the second half answering any double-figure lead by Rose-Hulman with a mini scoring run to narrow the gap to single digits.  Trailing by 11 points, back-to-back triples by Parker and sophomore Noah Goodrich (Toledo/Genoa) pulled DC to within five points, 45-40, with 12:01 to go in the game.

That would be as close as Defiance got the rest of the way as Rose-Hulman answered the 6-0 run with six straight points of its own to extend the lead back to double-figures and never looked back.  The Engineers continued to pull away and tallied their largest lead of the game of 19 points, 63-44, at the 5:59 mark.

The Yellow Jackets made it an 11-point game, 71-60, late in the game on a three-pointer by Mangas as part of another 6-0 run, but the earlier lead would be enough for Rose-Hulman as the scoring run ended with under a minute left.  The Engineers tacked on two final free-throws to cap the scoring and went on to post the 73-60 victory.

Defiance will travel to Bluffton for a HCAC game against Bluffton University on Wednesday, Jan. 18.  The game will be part of another basketball doubleheader with the Yellow Jacket women's team.  The women will play against the Beavers at 6 p.m., followed by the men at 8 p.m.