DEFIANCE, Ohio – March Madness will officially begin for the Defiance College men’s basketball team on Monday morning, as the field for the 2010 NCAA Division III National Tournament will be announced at 10:00 am. DC students, faculty and staff are invited to Schomburg Auditorium to watch the webcast with the DC squad.

The Yellow Jackets (23-5) punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history by rallying for the 2010 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship with wins over No. 6 Franklin, No. 2 Hanover and No. 1 Anderson. The tournament championship yielded the HCAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and gave Defiance the 26th conference championship in program history.

The tournament run started for Defiance with a 92-78 win over Franklin inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center on Tuesday, February 23, before the Jackets headed to Anderson University for the weekend action. Once there, DC battled past a tough Hanover squad, 72-59, on Friday, February 27 and claimed the championship on the Ravens’ home court with a 70-65 thriller over Anderson in the finals on Saturday, February 28 in front of a raucous O.C. Lewis Gymnasium crowd.

Nick Sales led the way for DC with 17.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals per game during the three HCAC Tournament victories and was named as the 2010 HCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. He was joined on the HCAC All-Tournament Team by Anthony Brown and Logan Wolfrum. Brown shot five-of-12 from beyond the arc and averaged 14.7 points per game, while Wolfrum shined in his first taste of the postseason by netting 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during DC’s title run.

The HCAC Championship is another of a steady string of highlights for Defiance during its winningest season since making the transition to the NCAA Division III level prior to the 1991-1992 campaign. The Jackets have now claimed four tournament titles, posted an unblemished non-conference regular season record, notched the 1,300th win in program history, scored a pair of victories over nationally-ranked foes, logged the program’s 15th 20-win season and the 26th conference championship, while also clinching DC’s 34th trip to a national tournament and its fourth bid to the NCAA National Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets will learn of the next step in the memorable 2009-2010 season, when the NCAA unveils its national bracket on Monday at 10:00 am.

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