Men's Basketball Rolls Past Transylvania (Ky.)

DEFIANCE, OHIO  --  Despite a cold and blustery winter afternoon, the Defiance College men's basketball team kept their hot streak going as the Yellow Jackets won their fifth game in their last six contests with a 97-58 thumping of Transylvania (Ky.) University in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play at the Karl H. Weaner Center.  Senior guard Mason Roth (McComb) became the second player this season to score his 1,000th career point and also becomes the 48th player in program history to do so.

Roth led all scorers in the game with 25 points on nine-of-16 shooting (56.3 percent), including five baskets from three-point range.  Senior guard Travis Schomaeker (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) recorded a double-double with 12 points and a career-tying high 10 assists.  Senior forward Bernard Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Warren Cousino) rounded out the high scorers with 21 points.  In addition, junior forward Wade Wooley (Wauseon) recorded his seventh game this season with double-digit rebounds with a game-high 10 boards.  As a team, DC shot 57.8 percent (37-of-64) overall, 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from long range and 85.7 percent (six-of-seven) from the free-throw line.

Transylvania (12-11, 9-7 HCAC) scored the first points of the game, but Defiance (17-6, 12-4 HCAC) then rattled off six straight points to take the lead and never trailed the rest of the way.  Leading by two points, 8-6, DC took control of the game with a 14-2 scoring run capped by a three-pointer by Edwards to give the Jackets a 14-point advantage, 22-8, with 12;25 remaining in the first half.  DC went on to lead by as many as 22 points in the period, 42-20, following a triple by senior guard Drew Frizell (Smithville) at the 4:01 minute mark.  Roth ended the half with a three-pointer of his own to round out the scoring and give the Yellow Jackets a 47-28 margin at halftime.

The second half belonged to DC as Roth surpassed the 1,000-point mark with just over 13 minutes to go on a triple that was part of a sequence of back-to-back-to-back shots from behind the arc.  The three-pointer gave DC a 29-point advantage, 68-39, at the time.  Defiance posted its largest lead of the game of 43 points, 94-51, at the 2:58 mark on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Devin Mangas (Leipsic) as the Yellow Jackets cruised to the 97-58 victory.

Transylvania was led in scsoring by Alex Jones with 14 points.  Robert Dence was the only other Pioneer player in double figures with 12 points.

Defiance will wrap-up the regular season on the road beginning with a trip to North Manchester, Ind. for a HCAC matchup against Manchester University on Wednesday, Feb. 18.  Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.