Basketball opens season with 87-47 victory over SVU

LEXINGTON, Va. - The Defiance College Men's Basketball team opened up its 2013-14 campaign in a big way Friday night, defeating Southern Virginia University 87-47 to advance to the championship game of the Washington and Lee Season Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday.

Travis Schomaeker (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) led the way for Defiance (1-0) in scoring with 17 points as 13 of 14 Yellow Jackets scored in the game.

Wade Wooley (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) got the scoring started for Defiance in the largest season-opening victory in the Kyle Brumett era, but Southern Virginia (0-1) matched points with DC until the 14:50 mark when the game was squared away at 9. SVU led 4-2, but it was the only lead of the night for the Knights.

Defiance broke the game open in the middle of the first half with a 16-0 run that carried over 6:23. Mason Roth (McComb, Ohio/McComb) started the run with a three pointer and gave the Yellow Jackets a lead that it never relinquished. Roth led all scorers in the first half with 11 points.

Following the big run to break the game open, Defiance continued to pull away in the final seven minutes, scoring 15 more points while the defense limited Southern Virginia to 19 first half points. A large part of the Yellow Jackets success came in limiting second chance opportunities for the Knights.

DC picked up 12 of 16 rebound opportunities from missed SVU shots in the first half and allowed only two second chance points in the entire game. Defiance had 44 total rebounds in the game with 33 coming on the defensive side of the ball.

The Yellow Jackets forced 16 turnovers in the game and capitalized on the misfortunes of the Knights, converting turnovers into 19 points.

Defiance continued to grow its lead coming out of the break, going on a 30-11 run in the early part of the second half. DC's lead continued to grow until they led by as many as 47 points with 3:30 remaining in the game.

The starting five for the Yellow Jackets logged an average of seven minutes in the second half before the bench took over for DC. Roth and Ryan Hicks (Port Clinton, Ohio/Port Clinton) logged the most minutes for DC on the night with 24. Roth finished with 13 points, along with seven assists and five rebounds. Hicks was third on the team with nine points and was tied for the team lead with six rebounds.

Wooley also had six rebounds for DC and was one of three players with eight points in the game. Fellow starter Bernard Edwards (Detroit, Mich./Warren Cousino) also had eight points and the junior also had three steals and two blocked shots. Schomaeker's 17 points rounded out the scoring for the starters Friday night, which combined for 55 points.

Devin Mangas (Leipsic, Ohio/Leipsic) led all players off the bench for the Yellow Jackets, scoring eight points in just eight minutes of action. Mangas connected on all three of his attempts, including two from behind the arch.

The Yellow Jackets combined to go 29-of-57 (50.9%) from the field and 11-of-26 (42.3) from three-point range. Defiance also made 18-of-25 (72%) attempts from the free-throw line.

Jordan Fair (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley), Kent Tietje (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry), and Noah Reed (Huntington, Ind./Huntington North) all had six points off the bench for Defiance in the game. Fair and Tietje added four rebounds a piece and Fair also had two blocked shots on defense.

The Yellow Jackets combined for 19 assists in the game to go along with nine total steals and six blocks. The Yellow Jackets defense held Southern Virginia to 31.5 percent shooting on the night while only committing 16 fouls.

Defiance will play Ferrum College (1-0) on Saturday in the championship game of the tournament at approximately 4 p.m., following the completion of Southern Virginia and Washington and Lee (0-1) in the consolation game.