Hicks reaches 1000 career points in Defiance loss at Rose

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Ryan Hicks surpassed the 1000-career point milestone Saturday afternoon as the Defiance College Yellow Jackets fell to Rose-Hulman 58-54 in a battle of first-place teams in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Hicks needed four points entering the game to reach the 1000-point mark and the senior became the 46th member in DC history to reach the milestone when he sank a jumper at the 10:10 mark of the first half.

Hicks went on to lead all scorers in the game with 16 points, but it proved to be not enough for the Yellow Jackets (14-5, 9-2 HCAC), who fell to a late rally by Rose-Hulman (15-4, 10-2 HCAC) for the second time this season.

With 3:11 remaining in the game, Hicks hit a jumper to extend DC's lead to 52-49, but Rose-Hulman answered with the next four points to take the lead.

Defiance gained possession of the ball on a Wade Wooley rebound with 22 seconds left. However, Rose-Hulman fouled the Yellow Jackets multiple times as they had only accumulated two fouls in the half heading into the final 20 seconds, meaning the Fighting Engineers had a cushion before giving the Yellow Jackets a 1-and-1 opportunity.

With 10 seconds left, Ryan Hicks took an in-bounds pass and was going up for a shot when he appeared to have been fouled by the aggressive Rose-Hulman defense. The ball came loose and Rose-Hulman gained possession, with Hicks receiving a foul and a technical.

Rose-Hulman sank three of the four free throws to follow to seal the game. Bernard Edwards then made a layup to cut the deficit to two with 2 seconds remaining. The Fighting Engineers added a pair of free throws to win 58-54.

The Yellow Jackets had a strong shooting performance in the game, connecting on 50 percent of their shots (24-48), but DC only went to the line four times (3-4) in the game.

Rose-Hulman was 22-of-46 (.478) from the line, but went to the line 12 times and capitalized with 11 made free throws.

Hicks' 16 points Saturday gives him 1,012 for his career with the Purple and Gold, 45th on the all-time scoring list for DC.

Wooley had a strong performance on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds in the game. The sophomore center missed a double-double by a basket, finishing with 8 points. Wooley also finished with two blocks and a steal.

Edwards finished second in the scoring column for the Yellow Jackets, scoring 13 points.

Mason Roth scored nine points in the game. The junior led Defiance with four assists in the game.

The Yellow Jackets will now set their sights on getting back in to the win column Wednesday evening when Defiance travels to Anderson for the final game of DC's three-game stretch away from the Weaner Center.