Yellow Jacket Men Fall to Transylvania

LEXINGTON, KY.  --  Four Yellow Jacket players scored in double figures, but it wouldn't be enough as the Defiance College men's basketball team fell to Transylvania (Ky.) University, 82-75, in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game in Lexington, Ky.

Senior guard Michael Parker (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) led the team in scoring with 18 points on six-of-15 shooting (40.0 percent).  Five of Parker's six field goals came from three-point range (five-of-12 overall). Senior Devin Mangas (Leipsic) was second with 15 points and sophomore Noah Goodrich (Toledo/Genoa) scored a season-high 14 points.  Rounding out the high scorers was senior Keandre Gilmer (Toledo/Rogers) with 12 points in addition to a team-high six rebounds.

As a team, Defiance shot 37.7 percent (26-of-69) for the game, including 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from three-point range and 92.3 percent (12-of-13) from the free-throw line. 

Cold shooting was the story of the game for both teams in the early minutes of the first half as neither squad got on the board until the 17:43 minute mark when Gilmer scored on a layup that gave Defiance (6-17, 5-11 HCAC) the early lead.  The Yellow Jackets contintued to lead with 13:23 to play in the first half, 8-6, when Transylvania (15-8, 10-6 HCAC) went on a 6-0 scoring run to go up by four points, 12-8, at the 12:18 mark.

The Pioneers went on to lead by as many as seven points in the half, 24-17, but a 7-0 DC run that ended in a triple by Goodrich, evened the score at 24-24 with just over four-and-a-half minutes left in the period.  The two teams played to a 31-31 tie, the seventh tie of the game, with 2:28 to go, but Transylvania outscored Defiance, 6-4, to end the half and take a 37-35 advantage into halftime.

The Jackets stayed to within four points to begin the second half and eventually regained the lead on back-to-back layups by seniors Javone Hilliard (Indianapolis, Ind./Arsenal Tech) and Chris Holmes (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) to make the score 48-47 with 12:46 left in regulation.

DC extended its lead to three points, 51-48, soon after, but a 7-0 run by the Pioneers translated to a 55-51 advantage at the 9:56 mark.  Transylvania never trailed the rest of the way and gradually began to pull away to lead by as many as 11 points, 72-61, with 3:19 to go.  Defiance looked to make a late push narrowing the game to 72-66 with five straight points on two free-throws by Holmes and a three-pointer by Parker as the game went under the two-minute mark. 

Transylvania put the game away at the free-throw line as the Jackets were forced to foul, and converted 10-of-14 free-throw attempts to end the game as the Pioneers eventually extended back out to a double-figure lead, 79-69, en route to the 82-75 final.

Defiance will head into the final week of the regular season with a road trip to North Manchester, Ind. and a HCAC matchup against Manchester (Ind.) University on Wednesday, Feb. 15.  The game will be part of another basketball doubleheader with the Yellow Jacket women's team.  The women will take on the Spartans at 6 p.m., followed by the men at 8 p.m.