MBB Preview: Final week of the season begins at home against Earlham

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DEFIANCE, Ohio – The men's basketball season hits the final week of the year as the Yellow Jackets host Earlham at home on Tuesday night. Tipoff at the Weaner Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

A trying year for DC hoops has the potential to end on an upward swing with Defiance (6-17, 1-15) playing two other teams that have had difficult seasons as well Earlham (5-18, 4-12 HCAC) and Bluffton (5-18, 3-13 HCAC). 

Earlham comes to Defiance on Tuesday after recording just their fifth win of the year on Saturday. The Quakers are now 5-18 after taking down Mount St. Joseph on the road, 75-67, to snap a three-game losing streak. Earlham shot 56 percent for the game and went plus-12 in the turnover margin. The MSJ Lions were also Defiance's last victory on January 26 before the Jackets' current five-game slide. Defiance is 1-12 since entering play on New Year's Eve with a record of 5-5.

Defiance lost to Earlham in Richmond on January 18, 74-66, despite 28 points from Marell Jordan. DC leads the all-time series over the Quakers, 39-14. 

The last time out for Defiance was an 85-56 loss at Rose-Hulman, currently the No. 4 seed for the upcoming HCAC Tournament. Jakob Trevino was Defiance's leading scorer with a career-best 12 points. Marell Jordan was limited to just 12 minutes for Defiance and did not score for the first time since an early December game last season. Jordan still leads the conference in scoring at 18.3 points per game and is 18 points from moving into ninth place on DC's all-time scoring list.

Earlham's offense is led by Jaden Terry at 16.3 points per game and he also leads the program in rebounding at 5.4 per game, and assists at 2.9 per contest.

From a team perspective, Defiance scores 69.5 points per game while allowing a league-high 79.9 points per night. Earlham's scoring margin is minus-6 with 66 per game on offense and 72.3 allowed. Earlham is near the bottom of the conference shooting at 42 percent, including the second-lowest 3-point percentage of 31 percent. Defiance is one of the top teams in the HCAC outside the arc, shooting 36 percent, second-best, with the help of sharp shooters Landen Swanner, Jerome Johnson and Te Jones all over 30 makes on the season. Both schools shoot a hair over 70 percent at the free throw line but Earlham's 294 attempts are the second-fewest among HCAC squads.

-JACKETS-