Yellow Jackets pick up season-opening win over Miami-Middletown

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College men's basketball team opened the 2022-23 season with an 88-79 victory over visiting Miami-Middletown in the opening game of the 47th Annual Purple and Gold Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets (1-0) held a wire-to-wire lead over the ThunderHawks (0-3). 

Defiance held a single-digit buffer for much of the first half, but they opened things up at the close of the first half with a 12-6 run to finish the first 20 minutes leading 41-29. The Jackets built upon the strong finish to the first half by shooting an astounding 61 percent from the floor in the second half but were outscored 50-47. They built up an 18-point lead with 13:08 left in the contest after a pair of Marell Jordan buckets followed by a timeout-triggering lay-in from Jabryis Heidelburg.

Jordan led Defiance with 24 points. He was joined in double figures by Kiewaun Graham with 12 and Dejsani Beamon with 11. Miami-Middletown's Lorenzo Sparks led all scorers with 28, complimented by 16 from Isaiah Brooks and 15 from Nicholas Pierett.

Defiance canned nine three's in the game compared to six for the ThunderHawks. The Yellow Jackets committed 13 turnovers but forced 18 by Miami-Middletown. Defiance narrowly outrebounded their opponent, 34-31.

Fouls are common in season-openers and they were prevalent during this contest. Defiance committed a total of 29 personal fouls, leading to 32 free-throw attempts by the ThunderHawks. In comparison, Defiance took 24 shots at the charity stripe off 16 drawn fouls.

The Defiance started with Marell Jordan, Kiewaun Graham, Landen Swanner, Dejsani Beamon and Evan Conrad. Coach Josh Gibson was able to get 16 players into the game and 13 posted points. Jordan and Beamon were the only Jackets to play over 20 minutes due to the heavy timeshares. 

In the second game of Friday's action, Wilmington College took down Spalding University, 84-60.

The Yellow Jackets return to action by closing down the Purple and Gold Tournament on Saturday afternoon for a 3 p.m. tipoff against Wilmington (1-0). The first contest of the day at the Weaner Center features Spalding (0-2) and Miami-Middletown (0-3) at 1 p.m.

-JACKETS-