Swanner, Jordan each post 30-point nights in Defiance win over Olivet

DEFIANCE, Ohio — Defiance College took down Olivet at the Weaner Center on Wednesday with an 85-73 victory behind a career-high 33 points from sophomore Landen Swanner and 32 more by senior Marell Jordan.

The win breaks a three-game slide for the Yellow Jackets (3-5, 0-3 HCAC) by giving up a season-low 73 points and forcing the Comets (2-4, 0-0 MIAA) into 19 turnovers, the most by Defiance's defense on the young season. DC turned those turnovers into 24 points and shot 47 percent from the field with 10 3-pointers. Olivet was also limited to just six makes from long range.

Defiance held the lead for the entire game aside from 17 seconds in the early stages of the first half. Olivet made went on an 8-2 run after the Jackets stormed ahead 13-6, all from Jordan and Swanner. After back-to-back layups to place the Comets ahead by one at 14-13, Jordan made a quick jumper on the other end of the floor to keep Defiance ahead the rest of the way.

The lead expanded to as many as 13 just before halftime thanks to an 11-2 run by the Yellow Jackets. After leading by 12 at the break, Defiance outpaced Olivet 25-18 to build up a game-high 19-point lead halfway through the second.

Jordan caught fire in the first half and poured in 19 points over the first 20 minutes with a pair of 3-pointers. He added 13 more second half and went 12-for-20 from the floor for the game.

Swanner hit the first of his team-best five triples with just under two minutes left in the first half. He hit a pair of free throws moments later to finish a scoring frenzy in which he scored nine of the team's last 13 points before half in just a two-minute stretch. After a 13-point first half, Swanner kept rolling and hit five straight shots, including a pair of triples to start the second half. The sophomore hit 13 of 20 shots total with a pair of makes at the charity stripe to set a new career bests points, field goals made, field goal attempts and also came away with three steals.

"It's nice to get back in the win column," said head coach Josh Gibson. "We got great performances individually from Marell and Landen, but collectively I'm really proud of our energy and work on defense. I think our effort and rotations were the best they have been and we did a pretty good job of limiting them on the offensive glass for most of the game."

"With it being our last home game for a while and the beginning of our last chance at getting better in non-conference play, it was great to see progression, unselfishness and energy," said Gibson.

The Yellow Jackets begin a four-game road trip that will take them into 2023. Defiance's next game is at Mount St. Vincent (N.Y.) on Monday, December 19 at 2 p.m.

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