Burton, Brown lead DC to 3-0 with another home win

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Defiance Yellow Jackets outlasted the Miami-Middletown ThunderHawks with an 83-73 win to notch the program's first 3-0 start since the 2019-20 season.

Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets (3-0) were Christian Burton's 19 points and Jalen Brown with 17 more. DC also saw Evan Angstmann (15 points) and Baylen Blockberger (10 points) each register double figures as well.

Brown helped drive the Jackets early in the game with a stretch of 9 straight points in under 2 minutes, pulling Defiance to a 14-8 lead. Burton scored his first bucket of the night off a steal forced by Thomas Hallett to open up an 18-10 lead. Despite the momentum early, the ThunderHawks (0-2) closed the gap quickly and kept within two scores for much of the remainder of the half. Blockberger helped push the lead back ahead for DC by scoring 8 of the team's last 12 points before halftime.

After a 36-30 start to the game, both teams posted over 40 points in the second half. Burton erupted for 11 after the break while Brown poured in 8, including an early 3-pointer to give the Jackets a 4-point cushion after the ThunderHawks cut the lead to one. Brown's triple ignited a 25-3 run for Defiance, carried along by Angstmann and Burton to open up a 63-40 lead with 12 minutes left in the game. DC's offense sputtered for the next 7 minutes with just one field goal, a strong driving layup by Parker Chatman. Over the last 11:40 of the game, Miami-Middletown worked a 23-point deficit down to 10.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Yellow Jackets posted their highest-scoring offensive output of the season, improving for the third straight game.
• Defiance also shot a season-high 47.5 percent from the floor but struggled from 3-point range, making 4-of-21 attempts.
• Defiance took a season-high 31 free throws, making 23. Much of that was a result of 52 total fouls in the game.
• Tuesday's win was the first of the team's 3 games in which DC was outrebounded. The ThunderHawks pulled in 35 total boards while DC had 31. 
• Defiance took advantage of 23 Miami-Middletown turnovers, coming up with 17 steals and scoring 27 points off turnovers, including 8 fast breaks.
• Christian Burton's 19 points were the most in a game by a Defiance player this season, and set a new single-game career high. He also assisted on 5 other baskets and had 4 rebounds.
• Evan Angstmann hit 2 3-pointers and made all 5 free throw attempts on his way to 15 points, his most in a game this year.
• Jalen Brown's 17 points included a pair of triples while he also swiped a team-high 4 steals, matching Burton's total.
• Baylen Blockberger scored double figures for the first time this season, featuring a pair of tip-ins in traffic. 
• Wren Sheets led Defiance in rebounding with 6, 3 on offense and 3 on the defensive glass.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets travel to Division-1 Oakland on Saturday to play the Grizzlies in an exhibition game starting at 3 p.m. at OU Credit Union O'rena.

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