Yellow Jacket Men’s Basketball opens with exhibition at Oakland

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Opening night across college basketball sent the Defiance Yellow Jackets north of the Ohio border to face Division-I Oakland. The Grizzlies defended their court with a 92-27 victory.

Due to playing two exhibitions against nearby institutions Grand Valley State and Rochester University, Oakland (1-0, 0-0 Horizon) earned a regular-season victory leading into their matchup with Bowling Green on Friday night. For Defiance (0-0, 0-0 HCAC), however, the loss does not count against the Yellow Jackets' 2022-23 record.

The Grizzlies posted the first 15 points of the contest before the Jackets picked up a free throw from Jabryis Heidelburg just after the second media timeout in the first half. The most competitive portion of the first 20 minutes was Defiance winning a four-minute stretch by an 11-9 tally and taking an 18-1 deficit down to 27-12.

Oakland took a 43-14 lead at halftime and followed up with a 49-13 second half in their wire-to-wire win. Four different Grizzlies finished in double figures led by Keaton Hervey with 19 points by shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. As a team, Oakland shot 58 percent and canned 10 three-pointers.

Defiance posted a third of their offensive at the free-throw line and shot 18 percent from the floor. The rebound margin narrowly went to Oakland, 35-32.

Twenty different Jackets saw time on the floor during their first of two D-I tune-ups this month. Marell Jordan led the way with eight points and started alongside Landen Swanner, Kiewaun Graham, Dejsani Beamon and Evan Conrad. Jabryis Heidelburg, Jakob Trevino, Cam Martin and Te Jones all logged over 10 minutes off the bench. 

The Yellow Jackets open their regular season as part of the Defiance Purple & Gold Tournament on Friday, November 11. Defiance hosts Miami-Middletown in the tournament opener at 6 p.m. to be followed by Spalding and Wilmington's matchup. The full Purple & Gold Tournament schedule, including Saturday's doubleheader, can be viewed by clicking here.

-JACKETS-