No. 8 UW-Whitewater Rallies Past DC in NCAA Opening Round

WOOSTER, Ohio – Defiance College saw a six-point lead slip away in the final two minutes of Friday's NCAA National Tournament game with No. 8 UW-Whitewater on the campus of Wooster. The Warhawks ended the game on a 10-0 spurt to hand DC a crushing, 75-71 defeat.

The Yellow Jackets played courageously the entire 40 minutes and outplayed the much larger UW-Whitewater squad behind a career effort from Nick Sales. The HCAC Player of the Year led all players with 27 points, 15 rebounds, five steals and four assists to power the Defiance attack all night long.

The inspired play of Sales in the paint allowed DC to win the battle of the boards against the Warhawks, while outscoring them by a 40-28 margin inside the paint.

Anthony Brown and Logan Wolfrum backed up Sales by combining for 25 points from the perimeter, while Kyle Tietje added seven points, Nate Conley pulled down five boards, Mike Floyd dished out three helpers and Heath Armstrong ended with five caroms and three points.

The all-around team performance was underminded by missed opportunities however, as Defiance committed 17 turnovers that led to 21 Warhawk points and managed to connect on just 10-of-18 free throws.

Despite the miscues, Defiance took a 31-30 lead to the break and stormed out of the intermission to break open a 53-43 cushion on a Wolfrum runner in the lane at the 12:48 mark.

UW-Whitewater roared back with seven-straight points but the Yellow Jackets maintained their lead and methodically pushed it back to seven points on a three-point play from Sales with 6:25 showing on the clock.

Wolfrum would then send the large DC fan section into a frenzy with a triple to give Defiance the 71-65 edge with 2:00 left in the game, but UW-Whitewater answered with a three on its next touch to keep its hopes alive.

After a defensive stand on DC's next possession, UW-Whitewater turned to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Dustin Mitchell did not disappoint, as the center sank a three from the top of the arc to knot the score at 71-71 with 37 seconds left in the game.

Defiance then had a chance to get the final shot in regulation, but Whitewater's Dupree Fletcher picked off the in-bounds pass and went coast to coast to put the Warhawks up by two. DC's final chance also slipped away, as DJ Dantzler earned the 11th and final steal of the night for Whitewater, before icing the game with a pair from the charity stripe.

The 10-0 run to end the game lifted Whitewater from a 71-65 deficit with two minutes remaining to a 75-71 victory to advance the No. 8 Warhawks (23-5) into the NCAA Second Round.

Fletcher led UW-Whitewater off the bench with 18 points and two steals, while Mitchell ended with 17 points and five boards, while hitting his biggest shot of the night from long distance.

Defiance (23-6) ends its record-setting 2009-2010 campaign with the defeat but will go out with one of the finest seasons in the program's Division-III tenure. DC's 23 victories are a school record in the D-III era, while it also earned the 26th conference championship and fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

DC's six-man senior class will also leave a lasting legacy, as Nick Sales, Mike Floyd, Nate Conley, Heath Armstrong, Eric Stolly and Josh Stuckey end their collegiate careers as the winningest class in the school's Division-III era with 77 victories, two HCAC Championships and one NCAA Tournament bid.

The group will also leave its mark as individuals, as Armstrong boasts the second-best career free throw percentage with his .845 clip, Floyd ranks second all-time in program history with 502 assists and Sales ends his stellar collegiate career ranking 16th in DC history with 1,383 points, fourth with 833 rebounds, second with 79 blocks and first with a .605 career field goal percentage.

Defiance is set to return 11 players from this year's squad, with Brown and Brandon Campbell returning from the starting five, as well as top reserves Wolfrum, Kyle Tietje and Kevin Tietje.