DC Men Reach 20 Wins with 73-60 Victory at Franklin

FRANKLIN, Ind. – For just the second time since making the transition to the NCAA Division III ranks in 1991-1992 and the 15th time in school history, the Defiance College men's basketball program reached the 20-win plateau in a single-season by scoring a 73-60 win at Franklin on Saturday.

In each of the previous 14 times that a DC squad has logged at least 20 victories, the Jackets have advanced to either the NAIA postseason or the NCAA National Tournament. Defiance's last 20-win campaign, and its only since moving to NCAA Division III, came in 1992-1993 and resulted in the first of the program's three appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Along with reaching the elusive 20-win plateau, Defiance also secured a third-place finish in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with an 11-5 mark in league play. Defiance will now be the No. 3 seed in the HCAC Tournament, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Defiance faced only one deficit on Saturday, as Franklin scored the first basket of the game to take a 2-0 lead. The Jackets would score the next six points and battle to a 25-22 lead with 4:11 left to play in the opening half, before taking complete control of the game. Back-to-back three-point plays from Brandon Campbell and Anthony Brown extended DC's lead to nine points and a hoop from Nick Sales gave the Jackets a comfortable 33-23 lead late in the first period.

The outcome was never in doubt from that point on, as Defiance maintained a double-digit lead throughout the entire second half and used a 17-5 spurt at the start of the final stanza to open up a commanding, 54-31, gap with 14:07 left to play. That margin swelled to as many as 31, at 72-41 with just over six minutes remaining, before DC coasted from there for the 73-60 victory.

Brown led all players with 19 points, while Campbell added 10 and Mike Floyd ended with six points and seven assists. Sales continued to add to his legacy with 16 points, six steals, five rebounds and two helpers.

Sales now has 1,304 points, 795 rebounds, 136 steals and 74 blocks in his career and is the only player in DC history to rank among the top 20 in scoring, as well as the top five in rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage for a career. Sales currently ranks 20th in scoring, fifth in rebounds, third in blocks and remains the program's all-time field goal percentage leader with a sparkling 61.1-percent clip.

Sales is also having one of the finest defensive seasons in program history, as his six steals on Saturday moved the athletic forward to 56 on the year. That number leaves Sales just three thefts shy of the sixth-highest, single-season total for Defiance.

The Yellow Jackets (20-5, 11-5 HCAC) will get another crack against Franklin (8-17, 6-10 HCAC) on Tuesday, when Defiance hosts the sixth-seeded Grizzlies at 8:00 pm in the HCAC Quarterfinal matchup.

Defiance swept the season series with FC and has won five-straight regular season showings against Franklin. The Jackets will be seeking postseason redemption however, as Franklin has ended DC's run in the HCAC Tournament in each of the past two years.