Wolfrum Eclipses 1,000-Point Barrier in Defiance Loss

FRANKLIN, Ind. – Logan Wolfrum netted a game-high 23 points and scored his 1,000th career point on a free throw at the 11:07 mark of the second half but could not lift the Yellow Jackets past a hot-shooting Franklin squad in Saturday's 83-68 road defeat.

Wolfrum became the 44th player in the history of the Defiance College men's basketball program to reach 1,000 points in a career and passed fellow Ayersville High product, Jaymes Zachrich (1992-1998), for 43rd on DC's all-time scoring chart with 1,014 points.

Wolfrum became one of the fastest players to join the club, needing only 63 games on the hardwood for the Purple and Gold to accomplish the feat. The junior has averaged 16.1 points per showing for his career and garnered his 19th game with 20-or-more points with the 23-point effort on Saturday.

The memorable performance from Wolfrum would be one of the few bright spots for Defiance in the game however, as the host Grizzlies picked apart the Yellow Jacket defense by assisting 22-of-29 field goals and shooting 58.0 percent from the floor on the afternoon.

Defiance held two leads during the game, with a trey from Wolfrum opening the scoring and a Mason Roth jumper giving DC a 5-3 edge in the opening moments of Saturday's action. DC would battle Franklin to a tie at 11-11, before a 13-2 spurt by the home squad put the Jackets in a 24-13 hole midway into the opening stanza.

The Jackets narrowed the margin to 34-30 at the break and used a Wolfrum deuce to draw within two points at the start of the second half, only to see an ensuing, 11-1, rally by Franklin open up a 45-33 cushion. The lead would swell to as many as 24 points on two occasions, before the Grizzlies finished off the 83-68 triumph.

Wolfrum ended with 23 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal to lead Defiance, while Jeff Hugan added eight points and six boards and Roth ended with eight tallies.

Defiance fell to 2-7 overall and 0-4 in league action with the loss and will look to regroup over an extended break, before hosting the 37th-Annual Purple and Gold Tournament on December 29 and 30.

The Jackets will look to snap their current five-game skid when they host Knox on December 29 at 7:00 pm, following a game between Trine and Lakeland at 5:00 pm. The consolation game on December 30 will then tip at 5:00 pm, with the championship set for 7:00 pm.