Jackets Blast Earlham for First Road HCAC Victory

RICHMOND, Ind. – The Defiance College men's basketball team scored its first road win of the year in conference action on Wednesday, topping Earlham by a 92-66 margin. The 26-point spread gave the Jackets their most lopsided road win of the Kyle Brumett era.

It took a few minutes for the Purple and Gold to take control of the action however, as Earlham won the tip and scored on its first possession. The Quakers would then take an 8-6 lead and draw even at 10-10, before a hoop from Bernard Edwards and consecutive baskets from Travis Schomaeker put DC up by a 16-10 count.

The Jackets would not look back, using back-to-back triples from Mason Roth and Drew Frizell to open up a 24-14 lead by the 9:47 mark and taking a 41-28 lead into the half.

It would be all Defiance in the final 20 minutes, with two more three-point daggers from Frizell pushing the lead over the 20-point barrier to stay with 11:42 remaining in the contest via a 66-42 cushion.

The lead would hover between 22 and 28 points the rest of the way, as DC rolled to the 92-66 triumph and its largest road victory since topping Transylvania by a 98-65 score on January 12, 2008.

Schomaeker remained hot for Defiance, matching a career-high and leading all players with 19 points, while Ryan Hicks ended with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks to move into a tie for fifth place with Matt Laudick (2002-2006) on DC's all-time blocks list with 58 career swats.

Logan Wolfrum and Frizell also cracked double figures with 15 and 12, while Wade Wooley ended with a career-high eight points and D.J. Bonds dished out a career-high eight assists off the bench.

Defiance (10-6) closed the first half of the league schedule with the victory and will enter the second wave of action in fourth place with a 6-3 clip in the HCAC. The Jackets have won eight of their last 10 outings and will look to keep that momentum when they play at Hanover (10-6, 7-2 HCAC) on Saturday at 3:00 pm.