Men's Basketball Wins Big Against Alma (Mich.) in Season Opener

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  The Defiance College men's basketball team won convincingly against Alma (Mich.) College, 85-58, in a non-conference game and season opener at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Senior forward Bernard Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Warren Cousino) led the Yellow Jacket scoring attack with a game and career-high 32 points while shooting eight-of-14 from the field (57.1 percent) and a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line.  Senior guard Travis Schomaeker (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) added 21 points to go along with a game-high seven rebounds and sophomore guard Devin Mangas (Leipsic) rounded out the high scorers with 12 points.

Defiance (1-0) looked impressive right from the start outscoring Alma (0-1), 22-2, in the first 9:01 of the opening half.  During the run, Bernard Edwards scored eight of his 32 points.  The Yellow Jackets went on to lead by as many as 24 points in the first 20 minutes, 34-10, following a three-pointer by Schomaeker at the 5:17 minute mark.  The Scots narrowed the gap to 15 points with just over two miinutes to go, but a pair of free-thows by Bernard Edwards and jumpers by Schomaeker and senior guard Mason Roth (McComb) extended the lead back to over 20 points with a halftime score of 43-22.

In the second half, Alma crept closer and got to within 17 points, but a 9-0 scoring run by DC ended any possible threat making the score 60-30 thanks to a basket by Schomaeker at the 13:54 mark.  The Scots never threatened the rest of the way as the Jackets went on to lead by as many as 33 points on two occasions with the last one coming with 2:49 left in the game on a bucket by Mangas making the score 82-49.  Defiance would go on to win by the final score of 85-58.

Defiance shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field for the game, including an impressive 80.0 percent (24-of-30) at the charity stripe and held Alma to 35.5 percent shooting (22-of-62) and just 11.8 percent (two-of-17) from three-point range.  The Scots were led in scoring by D.J. Beckman who was the only player in double figures with 16 points on five-of-13 (38.5 percent) shooting.

The Yellow Jackets will look to keep the early momentum going when they host Wheaton (Ill.) College on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at the Weaner Center.  Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.