Swanner's late basket lifts Yellow Jackets to overtime victory over Immaculata

The Defiance College men's basketball team wrapped up their non-conference slate of games Wednesday afternoon at Immaculata University. The Yellow Jackets stormed back for a 70-69 win in overtime as Landen Swanner scored the game winner with three seconds left. Te Jones officially sealed the victory as he blocked Immaculata's game winning attempt. Jerome Johnson came up big late as he drained three from long range, one towards the end of regulation and two more early into overtime. 

The Basics:

• Records: Defiance (5-5) Immaculata (3-9)

• Location: Alumnae Hall - Immaculata, PA

• Attendance: 47

Inside The Numbers:

• Marell Jordan led all scorers with 15 and pulled down nine rebounds.

• Swanner and Jones each finished in double figures, Swanner with 11 and 13 for Jones.

• After shooting 30 percent in the first half, Defiance finished the game 40 percent from the field and 31 percent from deep.

• Defiance outscored Immaculata in the second half and overtime to claim the victory.

• John Proctor and Gregory Vlassopoulos led Immaculata in scoring with 14 apiece. Proctor also grabbed nine rebounds.

The Breakdown:

• The Yellow Jackets scored the first two points of the game as Landen Swanner knocked down a jump shot. Immaculata responded by scoring the next nine points to take a 9-2 lead. The run was stopped when Te Jones knocked down a jump shot.

• The difference in the first half was field goal percentage. Immaculata shot 50 percent from the field and Defiance was only 30 percent from the field.

• After Defiance scored the first two points of the game, it was all Immaculata for the rest of the half as The Mighty Macs took a 30-25 lead into halftime.

• Immaculata started the second half strong and extended their lead to 11 points with 16:15 remaining.

• Ice cold shooting continued to hurt Defiance as they started just 2 of 10 from the field to start the second half and watched Immaculata extend their lead to 12 points six minutes into the half.

• Defiance slowly started to chip away and answered with a 10-0 run that was ignited by Marell Jordan, Te Jones, and Easton Lewis to cut the lead down to 42-40 with 12:16 left.

• Jordan scored on a layup to tie the game at 42 but the Macs responded with a layup of their own to regain the lead.

• Easton Lewis converted a layup off an assist from Dejsani Beamon to give Defiance their first lead since the opening minutes at 49-48 with 7:30 remaining. 

• Immaculata scored a fastbreak layup off a Landen Swanner turnover to take a 55-50 lead with four minutes remaining. 

• Jerome Johnson hit a three and Defiance trailed 57-55 with 1:19 remaining.

• Marell Jordan missed a layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime tied at 57.

• Johnson drained two from downtown to give the Yellow Jackets a 63-59 lead with three minutes left in overtime.

• The Macs hit two free throws to tie the game at 65 with 1:31 left.

• The Macs would hit two more free throws to take a 69-68 lead with 28 seconds left but the Yellow Jacks went right down the floor and executed their play for the win.

Up Next:

• The Yellow Jackets return to action New Years Eve, December 31, when the team resumes HCAC play at Mount St. Joseph. Tip-off from Cincinnati is set for 3:00 p.m.