Jackets Discard OSU-Lima, Roll to Championship Game

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College piled up 114 points against OSU-Lima on Tuesday night in the opening round of its 35th-Annual Purple and Gold Financial Tournament and improved to 53-16 all-time in the event with a 114-51 victory against the Barons.

The outcome was never in doubt, as DC raced to a 10-0 lead and built a 60-21 advantage at the half. The Jackets continued to roll in the second stanza, pouring in 54 more points and cruising to the 63-point rout.

Defiance completely overmatched OSU-Lima in all phases of the game and held edges of 66-16 in points in the paint, 71-16 in points off the bench and 36-0 in fast-break points. The Jackets also dominated the glass by a 63-37 margin, collected 23 steals and seven blocks and forced a season-high 31 turnovers.

DC placed all 15 of its players in the scoring column, while seeing all 15 players earn at least 11 minutes of action. All but one pulled down at least one rebound and 13 dished out at least one of the team's season-high 32 assists.

Anthony Brown paced the onslaught with 19 points in 13 minutes of work, while Heath Armstrong netted 16 points, two steals and a pair of assists in 14 minutes. Clayton Nieport set career highs with 11 points and five assists and Justin Morris also turned in personal bests with 10 points and six rebounds.

The Defiance victory followed the evening's opening game, which saw DePauw (8-2) pull out a 58-46 win against Adrian (4-5) in a defensive struggle to set up the championship game clash between DePauw and Defiance at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.

The Yellow Jackets (8-2) will be searching for their 19th Purple and Gold Tournament Championship when they host DePauw in the title game, which is set to follow the consolation contest between OSU-Lima (1-17) and Adrian (4-5) at 5:00 pm.