Pettaway Fuels DC Past Engineers with 20-Point Effort

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Anthony Pettaway continued to recent string of dominance in the paint with a 20-point, nine-rebound, two-block performance on Saturday, as the Yellow Jackets moved to 11-3 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 78-67 win over Rose-Hulman.

Pettaway followed up his 23-point, 14-board showing in Defiance's 68-64 win at MSJ on Wednesday with his fifth 20-point game of the year and moved past C.J. Johnson (2004-2008) for 15th on DC's all-time scoring list. The Toledo, Ohio, native surpassed Johnson's mark of 1,374 in his 100th career game and now stands at the doorstep of 1,400 career points with 1,388 to his name.

DC's senior center had plenty of help in the dominant inside performance from DC, as Nick Sales pulled down 15 rebounds to go with 17 points. The Jackets, led by the inspired play of Pettaway and Sales, successfully crashed the boards the entire game and ended with a 47-24 edge on the glass, with 19 coming on the offensive end and leading to 22 second-chance points.

The Jackets used the inside game to control the action for the entire 40 minutes and never trailed on the afternoon. DC broke open a 4-4 tie with a 15-2 spurt and saw six different players score en route to a commanding 19-6 lead at the 12:52 mark. The lead would balloon to a game-high 19 points at 34-15 with 6:39 remaining in the period and end the first half in the form of a 46-33 cushion for the Jackets.

The Engineers did have a run in them however, and it came in the form of a 12-0 spurt at the midway point of the second stanza. The Rose-Hulman charge narrowed the gap to just five points at 62-57 with 9:37 to play.

DC used a quick timeout to stem the tide and then turned to its reigning HCAC Player of the Year. Pettaway responded by taking over the game and collected the next four buckets of the game for Defiance to push the lead back to 70-61 with 4:34 showing on the clock.

Pettaway then scored his 13th and 14th points of the second half just over two minutes later to push the DC advantage back to 11. The lead would remain in double figures from that point on, as Defiance finished off the 78-67 win.

Eric Stolly joined Pettaway and Sales in double figures with 12 points, while Heath Armstrong and Kyle Tietje ended with nine points each. Mike Floyd did not crack the scoring column but did dish out eight assists in 33 minutes of work.

Defiance climbs to 16-7 overall and 11-3 in the HCAC with its eighth win in its last nine. The Jackets will look to keep their HCAC title hopes alive when they host Bluffton (13-10, 7-7 HCAC) on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.

The game will be the 182nd installment of the rivalry between Defiance and Bluffton and will have major implications on the HCAC race. DC rallied for a 71-68 come-from-behind win at Bluffton on January 21 and will need to top the Beavers once again to stay alive in the race for the top spot in the conference.

Wednesday will also be the final home game of the regular season for the Jackets, who will honor their two-man senior class of Pettaway and Joe Nowak prior to the start of the action.