Yellow Jackets dealt season-opening loss

DEFIANCE, Ohio – A new season opened for the Defiance College men's basketball team and the Yellow Jackets were dealt a 77-65 loss to the hot-shooting Great Lakes Christian Crusaders on Friday at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

In just the second meeting all-time between the two programs, the Yellow Jackets (0-1) were handed their first defeat against the Crusaders (2-0). Great Lakes Christian was very efficient shooting the basketball by finishing at 50 percent for the game thanks to a 56 percent second half. 

The contest opened with both sides even at 12-12 near the 12-minute mark when freshman center Carter Sudhoff connected on a pair of scores at the rim to push DC ahead by four. After Great Lakes answered with a 3-pointer, Devonte Curry responded with an interior bucket for the Yellow Jackets. Defiance held on to the upper hand until the 8:11 remaining in the half. Great Lakes opened the lead up to four with just under four to play when DC freshman Jalen Brown gave the Jackets a jolt with a triple to pull within one. Defiance capitalized on a Crusaders turnover when Connor Bush drew a foul and sank a pair of free throws to gain back the lead. 

The Yellow Jackets led by as many as five late in the first half following a Bush 3-pointer with 2:47 left in the half combined with a tip-in by Brown the next time down the floor. However, the Crusaders rallied from down 33-28 to close the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 37-33 lead into the locker room.

THE TURNING POINT

The tide turned in the second half when the Crusaders took a three-point lead and stretched it out to double figures for the first time in the contest. Layups by Shawn Goodman and Rasheed Dyson made it a three-possession game with 13:28 to go. Evan Park gave Defiance a hard-fought put-back for two but Great Lakes Christian answered with a Darien Banks trey on the other end to go ahead by eight. Goodman and Park traded layups and the score sat at 56-48 for nearly two minutes. The Crusaders grabbed more momentum on a three-point play by Dyson when he tipped in his own miss and drew a foul, then converted the free throw. That three-point play sparked a 15-6 run to open the game up to a 19-point advantage at 73-54, the largest lead of the game.

Defiance managed to claw back within 10 late in the contest with the help of long-range makes by Bush and Donovan Stone, but the comeback fell short on time.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Defiance hit six triples compared to five by Great Lakes Christian.
• DC also won the offensive glass with 15 boards compared to 10 by the Crusaders. The overall rebounding margin was plus-1 for GLCC. 
• Connor Bush led Defiance with 21 points in his Yellow Jacket debut. The junior transfer also had seven boards and converted a team-best seven free throws.
• Freshman Jalen Brown impressed in his college debut with 14 points with a pair of 3-pointers. 
• Freshmen Donovan Stone and Brown each dished out a team-high five assists.
• Junior forward Evan Park narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and snatched up nine rebounds.
• From a scoring standpoint, Defiance had just eight points off the bench led by freshman Carter Sudhoff with four.
• Darien Banks from Great Lakes Christian led all scorers with 25 points, seven of which came at the charity stripe.

UP NEXT
Defiance concludes the Purple and Gold Tournament on Saturday with another dual session at the Karl H. Weaner Center. At 1 p.m., Indiana East and Great Lakes Christian square off before the Yellow Jackets tangle with the Miami-Middletown ThunderHawks at 3 p.m.

-JACKETS-