Jackets outpaced by Cornerstone’s hot shooting on Tuesday

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Defiance Yellow Jackets dropped their second contest of the season on the road against the Cornerstone Golden Eagles, 89-68, at Mol Arena on Tuesday.

The Yellow Jackets (5-2, 0-2 WHAC) enjoyed a hot start but were unable to keep up with the sharp shooting that carried the Golden Eagles (3-4, 2-1 WHAC) all evening.

Evan Angstmann picked up where he left off in DC's previous game by scoring 14 of the team's first 18 points. After a layup to tie the contest at 4-4, the St. Mary's grad popped back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the early lead to 10-4. The Golden Eagles clawed back to tie the game 12-12, but Angstmann responded with his third triple to break the tie. He also added three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point try following the first media timeout.

The contest was tied at 18-18 halfway through the first. Cornerstone pulled ahead on a 13-3 run while DC's shooting fell off for a stretch of 0-for-7 from the floor. The Golden Eagles' lead reached as many as 8 points before Defiance rallied to finish the half on an 11-6 burst to close the gap to 3 points, 40-37. The Jackets' strong finish to the half included a brief reprise of the lead after consecutive treys by Donovan Stone and Jalen Brown.

Golden Eagles shot 60 percent in the first half and continued to pour in the pill after halftime. Starting with an 11-3 run to open up a double-digit lead, Cornerstone made a trio of big 3s to extend their largest leads of the game to 13, 15 and 18 points approaching the halfway point of the second half. During that stretch, DC went 4-for-16 from the field to slip from down 3 points to eventually a 20-point deficit. Cornerstone went on to hit 6 triples in the second half and finished the contest shooting at a 57 percent clip.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Carter Sudhoff finished as the Jackets' top scorer and rebounder, scoring a season-high 16 points and securing a game-high 8 rebounds.
• Evan Angstmann gave Defiance a huge lift early in the game, scoring 14 of his 15 total points in the first half.
• Jalen Brown knocked down 3 3-pointers on his way to 15 points for the Jackets.
• Defiance used 6 3-pointers to help overcome Cornerstone's 60 percent shooting in the first half. The two teams flipped the script from outside the arc after halftime with DC making just one while the Golden Eagles dropped 6 3s.
• The Yellow Jackets had another positive night at the free throw line, making 15-of-22 attempts.
• The hustle categories were nearly dead even. Cornerstone had a one-rebound edge on the Yellow Jackets, while DC took care of the basketball for just 8 turnovers compared to forcing 9 by the Eagles.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets get back to action after the Thanksgiving break and welcome the Lourdes Gray Wolves to the Karl H. Weaner Center on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Tipoff for the WHAC contest is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

-JACKETS-