Jackets Use Late Rally to Get Past Madonna

ALBION, Mich. – Defiance College trailed by one point with under six minutes to play on Saturday, before closing the game on a 13-1 surge to take the 78-67 win over Madonna in the second contest of the Albion College Tip-Off Tournament.

Facing a 64-62 deficit late in the second half, the Yellow Jackets tightened up defensively and did not yield a Madonna field goal over the game's final 6:15 of action. The Crusaders mustered only three points from the charity stripe the remainder of the way as DC took control of the game.

Two of those three points broke the 12th tie of the afternoon and put Madonna in front by a 66-65 margin with 5:36 to play, but Defiance used a Mike Floyd trifecta and three-straight buckets from Nick Sales to rattle off nine-unanswered points.

After a MU free throw stopped the 9-0 spurt and narrowed the gap to 74-67, Defiance iced the win with four free throws in the closing moments to seal the 78-67 win.

DC used a strong defensive performance to pull out its first win of the young 2008-2009 season, holding Madonna to 32.1-percent shooting in the second half. The Jackets also held MU without a basket over the final six-plus minutes and ended the game on a 13-1 run to pull away.

Sales connected on 10-of-14 attempts from the floor and ended with a game-high 24 points to pace the Jackets. Heath Armstrong knocked in a trio of three-point shots to end with 11 points and Kevin Tietje also cracked double-figures with 10 of his own.

Floyd dished out seven assists for the second time in as many outings this year and added six points and five rebounds, while Anthony Pettaway yanked down 13 rebounds to lead all players.

Defiance (1-1) will be back in action on Tuesday when it plays at Heidelberg at 7:30 pm.