Men's Basketball unable to get over the hump, falls to Manchester 81-67

The Defiance College men's basketball couldn't quite get over the hump Wednesday night as the visiting Manchester Spartans slowly pulled away late for an 81-67 win over the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets had a few key opportunities to make things intersting, but couldn't get some big shots to fall. 

The Basics:

• Records: Defiance (6-14, 1-12) Manchester (12-8, 10-3)

• Location: Karl H. Weaner Center - Defiance, Ohio

Inside The Numbers:

• Landen Swanner led Defiance with 18 points.

• Marell Jordan finished with 17 points and seven assists.

• Jabryis Heidelburg was two rebounds shy of a double-double, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds.

• Ty Lynas led Manchester in scoring with 27.

• Manchester made 29 of their 35 free throw attempts, while Defiance only attempted 15 free throws. 

First Half:

• Manchester started the game on a 6-0 run.

• Landen Swanner got Defiance on the board with a layup.

• Defiance tied the game at 16 with 9:18 left in the half after a Jabryis Heidelburg fastbreak layup assisted by Te Jones.

• The basket by Heidelburg came during an 8-0 Defiance run that saw them take a 19-16 lead with 6:21 remaining and was capped by a layup from Marell Jordan.

• A jump shot from Marell Jordan gave Defiance a 25-22 lead but Manchester answered with an 8-0 run to take a 30-25 lead after a Mitch Mendenhall jumper.

• Manchester took a 34-30 lead into halftime.

Second Half: 

• Manchester started the half on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 10 after a layup from Ty Lynas.

• The Spartans led 46-35 with 15:13 remaining but the Yellow Jackets stormed back with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to four points.

• The run started with a Cole Wojciechowski layup and other contributors included Marell Jordan, Te Jones, and Jabryis Heidelburg.

• Defiance got within three points a few times and only trailed by three with 9:36 left but that was as close as they would get as Manchester slowly pulled away for the remainder of the contest. 

Up Next:

• The men's basketball team plays at Transylvania Saturday, February 4. Tipoff from Lexington is scheduled for 4 p.m. after the women's game.