Jackets fall in exhibition game at Oakland

ROCHESTER, Mich. - An exhibition game against the Division I Oakland Golden Grizzlies ended in a 75-52 loss for the Defiance Yellow Jackets on Monday.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) trailed by just 10 at halftime but the Golden Grizzlies (1-0) came out of the halftime break on a 33-13 burst to tighten their grasp on their season-opening victory. The win handed Oakland head coach and Defiance High School graduate Greg Kampe his 700th career head coaching win.

Coming off a strong finish to 2023-24 as one of the darlings of the NCAA Tournament last season, Oakland had to work off some rust to start the basketball game. DC jumped out to an 8-4 lead with a 3-point play by Jalen Brown, a Connor Bush trey and a layup by Brown. After another bucket by Bush, the Grizzlies found their rhythm and went on a 23-4 run to flip the first half pendulum into their direction. Over that stretch, the Jackets went 2-for-11 from the floor while Oakland took care of the ball without a turnover for nearly nine minutes. Defiance got the score back to 10 before the half on treys by Donovan Stone, Bush and Brown.

After Oakland built the biggest lead of the game at 66-36 with 7:04 left in the game, Defiance closed the game with a slight scoring edge of 16-9. The Jackets also finished the contest 4-for-their-last-4 from the field through the last four minutes of the game to close out a respectable showing against the defending Horizon League champions.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Both squads shot the 3-ball early and often but nearly split the game's 17 shots made beyond the arc.
• The Golden Grizzlies dominated the boards 51-29. Oakland also took advantage of 22 offensive rebounds to tally 14 second chance points.
• Turnovers were even at 13 apiece while Defiance turned those takeaways into 19 points.
• Defiance had nine different players get into the scoring column led by Connor Bush with 12 points in 19 minutes. Jalen Brown also reached double figures with 10.
• Tillman Brown made the most of his nine minutes with nine points to lead the efforts from the bench. The freshman forward went 4-for-5 from the field with one make from long range.
• Drake Skeen, Heath Kash and Zahyem Bradwell all scored three points each while Evan Angstmann and Parker Chatman posted two points apiece. 
• Donovan Stone registered eight points with a team-best four rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets return to their regular-season action on Tuesday with a home contest against Penn State Shenango. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

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