Yellow Jackets Narrowly Fall to HCAC Preseason Favorite

DEFIANCE, OHIO - Saturday afternoon's Community Day festivities were wrapped up by the Defiance College men's basketball team taking on Rose-Hulman in the Karl H. Weaner Center. The Yellow Jackets fell to the HCAC preseason favorite by a score of 76-66. 

The Fightin' Engineers opened up scoring first on the day. Davontae Kinnie (Ft. Wayne, Ind. / Northside) quickly answered back with a layup. After a Sean Tyson (Columbus / Centennial) rebound Tyler Andrew (Indianapolis, Ind. / Lawrence Central) found room for a shot and brought some early momentum back to the Purple and Gold. 

The visitors opened up a lead as they continued their offensive output. With just over ten minutes remaining in the first half, Rose held a 24-8 lead. Coach Scott Cutter's side buckled down and slowly fought their way back into the contest before heading to the locker room trailing 38-29. 

11 second half points from Andrew, closely followed by Marell Jordan's (Lafayette, Ind. / Lafayette Jefferson) 10 points, highlighted the second half for DC. A seven point run, beginning with 5:05 left in the contest saw the Fightin' Engineer lead reduced to four. 

The comeback was cut just short as the Rose-Hulman offense prevailed in the final minutes. Defiance cut the lead to 10 points as time expired, seeing Rose triumph 76-66. 

Offensively, Andrew led the way with 17 points. The freshman also brought down seven rebounds on the day. Two other Yellow Jackets broke double digits as Kinnie and Jordan finished with 12 points each.

The Yellow Jackets now stand at 0-5 on the season with an 0-1 conference mark. Defiance will stay at home as they welcome Manchester to the Weaner Center on Wednesday, December 5. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm.