Men’s basketball returns with loss in HCAC Championship quarterfinals

HANOVER, Ind. – Playing its first game since Jan. 30, the Defiance College men's basketball team returned to the court on Wednesday night with a season-ending 101-70 loss to the Hanover College Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship at Collier Arena. Defiance entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed with Hanover the No. 3 seed.

"Our guys were excited and ready to go. I thought we played well offensively, especially in the first half," DC head coach Scott Cutter said. "We just couldn't get them slowed down, and had to basically gamble to try to get back in it in the second half."

In a back-and-forth contest for most of the opening half, the Yellow Jackets had a pair of four-point leads and were up, 34-33, with less than five minutes to go before halftime. From there, the Panthers went on an 18-7 run to hold a 51-41 advantage at the intermission. Defiance scored the first two points of the second half to trim its deficit to eight points, but HC took control after that, building a 36-point lead (101-65) with 1:31 left.

DC shot a respectable 48.2 percent (27 of 56) from the field, knocking down half of its 16 three-point attempts and 8-of-11 free throws, but the hosts were even more efficient. Hanover was 43 of 65 (66.2 percent) from the floor, including 7 of 13 (.538) on three-pointers and 8 of 9 at the foul line. The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded, 31-22, and committed 21 turnovers. In the paint, Defiance was outscored, 60-30.

"I give Hanover a lot of credit," Cutter said. "Coach (Jon) Miller is a tremendous coach and his kids played great."

Sophomore Chase Glock finished with a season-best 17 points for DC while freshman Dan Luers scored 13. The squad's two juniors, Tyler Andrew and Marell Jordan, tallied 11 points apiece with Andrew also adding game highs of six rebounds and two blocked shots. Sophomore Avonte Jones contributed five assists, matching a career best, off the bench.

With no seniors on this season's roster, the Jackets end with a 1-6 overall record while the Panthers improve to 8-4 and move on to the HCAC Championship semifinals.