Men’s basketball battles until end in tight loss at Anderson

ANDERSON, Ind. – The Defiance College men's basketball team traveled to play Anderson University on Friday night and battled until the end before falling, 78-74, to the Ravens at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.

"It was a tough loss. We had chances to win and feel like some poor decisions and turnovers cost us the game," Defiance head coach Scott Cutter said. "We need to improve on our decisions and fundamental play. We are shooting ourselves in the foot right now and to start winning games, that needs to be corrected."

Marell Jordan scored the Yellow Jackets' first eight points to give the guests a four-point lead before Anderson rallied to take a 30-20 advantage. DC answered with a 17-4 run to close the first half and led, 37-34, at the intermission. The Ravens erased their deficit in the second half and were up by 12 points with less than eight minutes left, but Defiance got it down to two, 76-74, with 16.9 seconds to go. The hosts were able to stay on top and seal the victory by knocking down six straight free throws over the final 72 seconds.

The Yellow Jackets shot a season-best 52.5 percent (32 of 61) from the field but made just five three-pointers and five foul shots. In comparison, Anderson ended at 49.1 percent (26 of 53) from the floor, hitting 10 from three-point range and 16 at the line. The Ravens committed 26 turnovers but tallied 35 rebounds to DC's 27.

Jordan finished with a game-high 26 points for Defiance while freshman Dan Luers had 15 along with a career-best three steals. Avonte Jones came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points while Chase Glock hauled down a career-best 11 rebounds. Jack Kolar chipped in with a career- and game-high four steals.

"We are all frustrated with our start and at the end of the day, I'm accountable to us not getting the job done," Cutter said. "I need to get these mistakes corrected and get our players playing up to their full capability."

The Yellow Jackets drop to 0-5 overall while AU is 4-1. DC is slated to host Anderson on Saturday at 6 p.m. inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center with no spectators allowed at this time.