Defiance Tops Spartans for Program's 1,300th Win

N. MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Defiance College men's basketball program defeated Manchester, 70-59, on Wednesday for its third-straight season sweep of the Spartans and its 1,300th all-time win on the hardwood.

The Yellow Jacket program, which notched its first victory back in 1905, now has 1,300 wins to just 828 losses for a .611 all-time winning percentage and has secured the 73rd winning season in its history with a 16-5 mark through 21 games in 2009-2010.

Wednesday's road win at Manchester was in stark contrast to many of DC's previous victories this season however, as the Jackets held a foe under the 60-point barrier for only the fifth time this year and improved to 4-1 when doing so.

With the score knotted at 37-37 to start play in the final half, Defiance turned in a strong 20 minutes on the defensive end to close the game. The Jackets held the Spartans to 22 points in the second stanza on eight-of-28 shooting from the floor. Manchester mustered only 10 points in the paint during that time and connected on just one-of-seven attempts from long distance.

Defiance also excelled on the offensive end, as Nick Sales, Kevin Tietje and Kyle Tietje controlled the paint, while allowing DC to take control of the game after the intermission. The trio got things started by scoring the first 10 points of the second half to open up a 47-41 Yellow Jacket advantage.

Kevin Tietje then found a wide open Eric Stolly in the corner for a trifecta and the 50-41 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the game. The Jackets never gave the lead back from there, holding at least a four-point spread the rest of the way.

Manchester's final charge did narrow the gap to 52-48, but DC got layups from Nate Conley, Anthony Brown and Logan Wolfrum to push the gap back to eight and a Brown jumper gave Defiance its first double-digit lead of the game at 62-52 with just 4:31 showing on the clock.

That flurry would prove to be enough, as DC was not threatened from that point on and eventually claimed the 70-59 victory over Manchester (12-8, 6-5 HCAC).

The play of the Tietje's was the difference in the game, as Kevin led the way with 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks, while Kyle added eight points, four boards and a pair of blocks. The duo combined to sink eight-of-10 shots on the night.

Wolfrum also provided an offensive spark with 10 points, while Sales had 10 points and seven rebounds for his seventh-straight outing with a double-digit scoring total.

Defiance (16-5, 7-5 HCAC) climbs back into fourth place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with the victory and remains just one game back of second place.

The Jackets will get a crack at one of the teams they are chasing on Saturday, when DC hosts Transylvania (12-9, 8-4 HCAC) in a 3:00 pm tip.