DC Men Stumble Against Hanover

DEFIANCE, OHIO  -- The Defiance College men's basketball team was defeated by Hanover (Ind.) College, 86-56, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Defiance (2-5, 2-1 HCAC) led early, 6-4, but the Hanover (6-1, 3-0 HCAC) offense then began to take over and outscored the Yellow Jackets, 15-0, to take a 13-point advantage, 19-6, and never looked back.

The Panthers maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, and posted their largest lead of the half of 24 points, 45-21, with 16 seconds left in the period.  Defiance's Chris Holmes (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) scored the final points to end the half on a jumper that made it a, 45-23, game at the intermission.

In the second half, Hanover continued its impressive play and were never really threatened during the final 20 minutes.  The Jackets got to within 16 points, 51-35, at the 14:02 mark on a bucket by sophomore Randall Aikins, Jr. (Detroit, Mich./Plymouth) as part of a 7-0 scoring run.  But that was as close as DC got as the Panthers answered the Defiance scoring run with an 8-0 run of their own to extend the lead to 24 points, 59-35, with 11:38 to play.

Hanover went on to record its largest lead of the game of 30 points with a final score of 86-56.

The Yellow Jackets had two players score in double figures in seniors Michael Parker (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Devin Mangas (Leipsic) who both scored 14 points.  Parker was also the team's leading rebounder with four boards, while seven of Mangas' 14 points came at the free-throw line in which he finished a perfect seven-of-seven.

Defiance will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio for a HCAC matchup against Mount St. Joseph University next Saturday, Dec. 17.  The game will be part of a basketball twinbill with the Yellow Jacket women's team.  The women will tip-off against the Lions at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3 p.m.