Men’s basketball holds on for HCAC win over Earlham

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance College men's basketball team held on to beat the visiting Earlham College Quakers, 75-74, on Wednesday evening in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action at the Karl H. Weaner Community Center.

With the win, Defiance moves to 11-11 overall, including 6-9 in the HCAC (tied for seventh place) while Earlham is 8-14 and 5-10 (tied for ninth), respectively. When the teams met earlier this season in Richmond, Indiana, the Yellow Jackets prevailed, 99-95, in triple overtime.

"We just got to 11-11," DC head coach Scott Cutter said. "We now keep ourselves in the mix for making the conference tournament. I'm happy we won the game.

"It's a game that, obviously, should never came down to what it came down to, but I'm still proud of our guys."

Defiance freshman Owen Hiegel (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) made two free throws with 12.8 seconds left, which proved to be the difference as the Quakers hit a three-pointer as the final horn sounded.

The Yellow Jackets, who never trailed in the contest, held a 39-29 lead at halftime and stretched it to 22 points, 66-44, with 9:48 to go. The Quakers responded with a 20-1 run, making it a 67-64 contest with less than two minutes remaining, but three-point field goals by freshman Jack Kolar (Cincinnati, Ohio/Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy) and then Tyler Andrew (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) were big for the hosts. EC got to within 73-71 with 22.4 seconds on the clock before Hiegel's clutch foul shots.

Both teams shot extremely well from the free throw line with Earlham hitting all 17 of its attempts and DC connecting on 6 of 7 (85.7 percent). From three-point territory, Defiance was 11 of 24 (45.8 percent), compared to just 3 of 13 (23.1) for the Quakers. The Yellow Jackets had a slight 35-33 edge in rebounds and dished out 18 assists to EC's seven.

For the winners, freshman Chase Glock (Stryker, Ohio/Stryker) came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points with seven rebounds and a game-best four blocked shots while Marell Jordan (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) tossed in 17 points, shooting 7 of 10 from the field, including 2 of 3 from three-point range and 1 of 1 at the foul line. Andrew contributed 13 points and eight boards while Kolar ended with 12 points.

"Chase had a big game," Cutter said. "Chase played really well. Obviously he scored it, but then on the defensive end he really affected the game at the basket."

DC hosts HCAC foe Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in its final regular-season home game of the 2019-20 season this Saturday at 3 p.m. The contest follows the 1 p.m. Senior Day women's matchup between Defiance and Rose-Hulman.