Yellow Jackets come up short at Earlham, 81-70

RICHMOND, Ind. – Despite a competitive first half at Druly Performance Gym, the Defiance Yellow Jackets were outlasted by the Earlham Quakers, 80-70, in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference competition on Wednesday night.

The loss is the 17th in a row for the Yellow Jackets (1-18) while the Quakers (3-17) picked up their third league win and second over DC this season. Defiance has five more chances to erase the current slide before the end of the season.

TURNING POINT

Earlham compiled a 13-2 run during the last four minutes of the first half that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. The Yellow Jackets and Quakers traded the lead for most of the half, and DC used back-to-back buckets to create a three-point advantage with 3:51 remaining. Earlham went on to hit 4-of-6 shots from the floor, forced two DC turnovers, and cleaned up all four Defiance misses on the defensive glass. That stretch took Defiance from up three to down eight just ahead of halftime.

HOW IT HAPPENED

An eventful first half featured eight lead changes and six ties. Prior to Earlham's big surge before the halftime break, neither team could pull away by more than four points. 

Earlham opened up with a 5-2 lead before Will Gehlhausen hit a game-tying 3-pointer and dished out a pass to Sherod Brooks for a go-ahead score. Brooks knocked down a 3-pointer of his own after Earlham's Connor Smith canned a trey to take a 10-7 lead. Another 3-ball by Gehlhausen boosted Defiance to a 17-16 lead near the halfway point of the half before the teams traded baskets through the last media stoppage of the half.

In the first half, the Jackets took care of the basketball for most of the half and shot 46 percent despite the short blip going 1-for-5 from the floor with two turnovers. Jordyn Jury halted Earlham's momentum swing with a 3-pointer at the first-half horn to trim the deficit down to five.

Over the course of the second half, Defiance could not chip away at the lead any further than four points. The scoring was even through the first 13 minutes of the half until the Quakers started to knock down big shots down the stretch. Earlham made 3 of 7 second-half 3-pointers in the closing five minutes, made 5-of-6 attempts from the floor, and went 7-for-9 at the free throw line to boost the final score to double figures. During the final minute, Defiance's top two scorers, Landen Swanner and Sherod Brooks, fouled out of the game for the first time this season. Earlham used a 50 percent shooting second half to build the final total despite turning the ball over two more times and losing the rebounding battle after halftime.

For the game, Defiance shot 45 percent but allowed 11 3-pointers by the Quakers. The Yellow Jackets went 11-for-14 at the line while Earlham finished 18-for-25 and forced 17 DC turnovers for the game.

BRINGING THE STING

• Landen Swanner led the Yellow Jackets in scoring for the first time in seven games with 17 points. He also narrowly missed his first career double-double due to a nine-rebound effort, eight of which occurred in the first half. The junior also handed out five assists.
• Sherod Brooks continued his strong stretch of play with 15 points, marking seventh time in eight games scoring double digits. Brooks paced the team with four steals and went 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
• Will Gehlhausen added 12 points on a pair of first-half 3-pointers. He also secured a career-best eight rebounds.
• Cam Martin set a new career mark with 10 points for Defiance, which included a 3-pointer and 3-for-4 at the charity stripe.
• Jordyn Jury and Cole Wojciechowski each tallied seven points for DC with 3-pointers in the equation. Jury also set up teammates on five baskets for a career-best total in assists.

UP NEXT

The Yellow Jackets play their third of three straight contests on the road on Saturday with a visit to Rose-Hulman. Tipoff against the Fighting Engineers is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Hulbert Arena.

-JACKETS-