Late first half run propels Manchester past Defiance

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance Yellow Jackets' one-point deficit turned into a 14-point hole by halftime and the Manchester Spartans rode that momentum through the second half to finish an 87-67 victory in Heartland College Athletic Conference action at the Weaner Center on Wednesday.

Manchester hands Defiance the team's ninth straight loss to improve to 7-5 and 4-1 in conference play. The Yellow Jackets are now 1-10 with an 0-5 mark against HCAC foes.

TURNING POINT

After Defiance led for the majority of the first half, Manchester closed the first half on a 13-0 run. Cam Martin scored a layup to bring DC back within one at the 3:41 mark and it was all Spartans until halftime. Bryant Smith cut to the basket for a pair of layups to start the rally, which widened the Manchester lead to five for their largest lead of the half until that point. Smith sank a 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining to make the spread 10 points for the first time. The scoring drought for Defiance saw DC go 0-for-4 from the floor and turned the ball over four times as well.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Yellow Jackets had their best start of late by jumping out to a 9-2 lead over the first three minutes of action. Landen Swanner sank a 3-pointer on DC's first possession and added a mid-range jumper following a free throw by Will Gehlhausen. Manchester answered right back to get on the board but Jordyn Jury nailed a triple on the other end to give the Jackets their largest lead of the night.

After Manchester fought back to within one, Jury collected another bucket inside then Sherod Brooks hit a 3-pointer off a steal to hand Defiance a five-point swing. The Spartans trimmed the lead down to a one-possession contest to 14-11 but Swanner sank a trey to keep Manchester on the chase.

The Spartans erased that six-point advantage quickly, taking 45 seconds off the clock after a pair of free throws to flip back-to-back Yellow Jacket possessions into fastbreak layups by Bryant Smith and Zach Sawyer. Once tied at 17-17, Evan Park scored a pair of go-ahead layups for Defiance wrapped around a score in the paint by Logan Willoughby. Right out of the media timeout at 9:31, Swanner tipped a 3-point try and flew in for a transition dunk to give DC a four-point lead.

Defiance and Manchester traded ties three times before Sawyer put the Spartans ahead with seven minutes remaining in the first half. Down the stretch of the first half, Brooks hit a 3-pointer with Defiance trailing by four and Cam Martin banked one home from in front of the basket to bring the Jackets within one before the Spartans ran away.

Defiance trailed by as many as 19, 50-31 early in the second half. Swanner sparked an 11-1 run by converted a 3-point play on a made layup plus a foul at the 17:25 mark. After a Spartans miss, Devin Goodwyn sank a trey and followed up another Manchester miss with a layup plus one at the line to help tack on nine straight for DC. Will Gehlhausen scored off a baseline out-of-bounds play under the Defiance hoop to cut the deficit down to nine, but Manchester extinguished the threat when Sawyer made a jumper and got another at the line after a DC foul in the process.

From that point on, Manchester's lead slowly grew back into the teens as the two squads went back and forth for much of the half. The Spartans broke the 20-point margin in the final two minutes of the game and led by as many as 23 before Jeffrey Smith sank a 3-pointer from the corner to end the scoring with an even 20-point differential.

BRINGING THE STING

• The Yellow Jackets knocked down 12 3-pointers in the loss, the team's third outing in the last five games with double-digit makes from downtown and one off the season-high of 13.
• Defiance shot 50 percent in the second half to finish at 46.3 percent for the game, the team's second-best shooting performance of the year.
• Landen Swanner led the Jackets with 20 points, his second 20-point effort of the season and paced the team in points for the fifth time. The Mississinewa (Ind.) product sank a trio of 3-pointers, his sixth game of at least three treys in a game. Swanner also dished out seven assist, four of which resulted in 3-point baskets.
• Freshman Jeffrey Smith was the top supporting scorer with nine digits, all from outside the arc on dimes from Swanner. The performance sets a new career high in scoring for Smith.
• Devin Goodwyn tallied eight points and led Defiance from the free throw line with a 3-for-4 night at the charity stripe. Goodwyn also added three assists to tie a career-best total.
• Jordyn Jury secured five rebounds to lead the team for the second game in a row. The sophomore also added five points highlighted by an early triple in the opening minutes.
• The freshman trio of Dre'Sean Roberts, Jaylen Jenkins and Heath Kash all added to the scoring in the second half. Jenkins and Kash knocked down second-half treys while Roberts scored on a layup but matched Jury's five rebounds.
• For Manchester, returning all-conference performers Zach Sawyer and Bryant Smith led the charge for the Spartans. Sawyer led all scorers with 31 points, including 9-for-11 at the free throw line, and topped all rebounders with eight. Smith added 15 points in the victory.

UP NEXT

Defiance continues their stretch at home with a men's and women's doubleheader against Rose-Hulman on Saturday. The men's contest will begin at 3 p.m. following the women's game starting at 1 p.m. at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

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