DC Rides Blistering Start to Key Road Victory at Rose-Hulman

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Defiance led for all 40 minutes of play on Saturday and extended its longest winning streak of the season to four-straight games with a 62-59 win at Rose-Hulman. The victory moved the Jackets into a three-way tie for the sixth and final spot in the HCAC Tournament with two games left in the regular season.

DC came out blazing in the near must-win contest, hitting seven-of-nine shots to open the game and connecting on all five attempts from beyond the arc to build a 19-6 cushion by the 12:55 mark of the opening period. Logan Wolfrum and Anthony Brown netted the first 10 points of the game for Defiance, before Mason Roth joined in the barrage with a pair of trifectas, helping the trio account for each of DC's first 19 points.

The Jackets later widened the gap with seven-straight points to bust open a 28-12 lead, before heading to the intermission with a 37-22 advantage over the Engineers. Defiance connected on six-of-seven attempts from three-point territory in the opening 20 minutes of action and assisted on nine-of-15 makes from the floor.

After scoring the first five points of the contest for Defiance, Wolfrum went on to hit eight-of-nine shots from the field for 20 first-half points and then opened the final half with a bucket to give the Jackets their largest lead of the night in the form of a 39-22 spread.

The Defiance attack began to slow after that, hitting only two of the next 14 shots and allowing Rose-Hulman to score nine-unanswered points. The spurt drew the host squad within 41-33 and cut DC's margin to the smallest it had been since the Jackets held a 21-12 lead with over nine minutes remaining in the first stanza.

Despite the shooting woes, the Purple and Gold maintained a comfortable lead until an Austin Weatherford trey and a string of six free throws from Rose-Hulman sandwiched a pair of freebies from Wolfrum and cut the Defiance advantage to 49-46 with 3:26 to go.

After the two sides traded makes from downtown, Wolfrum pushed the lead back to five points with back-to-back hoops that made it a 56-51 contest with 1:15 showing on the clock. The late flurry from Wolfrum capped a 28-point effort from the junior guard and allowed Defiance to ice the critical road victory with free throws from Mason Roth and Ryan Hicks in the closing minute.

Wolfrum's 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting over 40 minutes of work led the way for the Yellow Jackets and vaulted the Ayersville High product up three spots and into 21st on DC's all-time scoring list with 1,266 career points.

Kyle Tietje also moved up in the program's record books on Saturday, collecting his 58th career block for Defiance to move into a tie for the fourth-most in Yellow Jacket history.

Brown and Roth each chipped in with 12 points, while Jeff Hugan added five rebounds to go with a pair of assists and Anthony Barnum swatted four Rose-Hulman shots and added a steal in 20 minutes of play.

The 62-59 win for Defiance over Rose-Hulman (15-8, 9-7 HCAC), along with losses from Manchester and Franklin on Saturday afternoon moved the Jackets into a three-way tie with the Spartans and Grizzlies for the sixth spot in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings and put DC in control of its own destiny for a spot in the HCAC Tournament.

Defiance (11-12, 7-9 HCAC) will close the regular season with a crucial two-game homestand against Bluffton (15-8, 9-7 HCAC) and Franklin (10-13, 7-9 HCAC). 

The Jackets will host Bluffton on Wednesday evening inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center. The game is set to tip at 8:00 pm, following a 6:00 pm affair between the DC and Bluffton women's squads. Both games will be carried by the Yellow Jacket Sports Network providing both contests at www.DefianceAthletics.com/mediazone/sportsnetwork.