College Basketball: DC Men and Women Suffer Second Straight Losses at HCAC

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Both the Defiance College men’s and women’s teams fell for the second straight time in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference on Saturday in a doubleheader at the Weaner Center with Franklin.

The men were overwhelmed by a Franklin (4-3, 1-0 HCAC) team that seemed like it couldn’t miss at times, especially from beyond the three-point line as they fell 111-77. It marks the first time the Yellow Jackets (2-4, 0-2 HCAC) have given up 100 points in a game since their HCAC tournament loss to Hanover in 2020 and is the most they have given up in a game since 139-133. loss to Greenville in 2017.

Head coach Josh Gibson’s team sat in one zone for the entire game, which is something he says they’ve tried to implement of late, since man-on-man earlier in the season wasn’t working. Going into the game, they had given up the second-worst HCAC of 81 points per game on the season. Franklin was averaging just 67 points per game on offense going into it.

“They’re a very direct, good shooting team, and I think for us right now the issue is less about the defense we use and more about how committed we are to it and how well we can do it,” Gibson said. “We decided to stay in that area because there were lessons we needed to learn and things we needed to do…they didn’t execute anything that we didn’t work to protect, we just didn’t protect it the way we work. in taking care of him the last days.”

That lapse in defensive pressure allowed Franklin to find open shooters along the perimeter throughout the game and he finished with a 23-of-44 shooting day from three (52%) and a 41-75 shooting day. (55%).

Carter Crow, the Grizzlies’ leading scorer, was the main benefactor of that, as he made eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds and six assists. Four others had at least three 3-pointers in the game, as well as Trey Flatt was 3-of-10 from 3 for 16 points, Logan Hudgins was 3-of-6 from 3 for 13 points, and Ryan Bostic came off the bench to score 17 points on 3-of-5. 3 shots of three. In all, eight Grizzlies connected out of three at least once.

The offensive attack began from the jump as Flatt converted an and-one to start the scoring, while Nathaniel Hoffman and Flatt knocked down 3-pointers in the next two times on the court. Later, Crowe knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers that extended the lead to 17-5 in the first media timeout.

Ultimately, the Grizzlies saw their lead lob as far as 32 before Landen Swanner knocked down a 3-pointer just before the first half buzzer to make it 62-33 heading into halftime.

Defiance played better in the second half, but it wasn’t before the Grizzlies hit two more 3-pointers and saw their lead as high as 73-36 with 17:30 left in the game.

From this point on, Defiance was able to find his offensive rhythm. Te Jones, who scored 11 points off the bench in the first half, was able to find holes on offense as was Marell Jordan. Jones led the team with 19 points on the night, while Jordan had 18 on 7-of-16 shooting from the field.

Landen Swanner and Clayton McCorkle each had good shooting nights, as Swanner scored 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from distance while McCorckle scored nine points, all on 3-of-3 shooting from three.

“They moved to their zone and we did a good job running against that, we were able to get a few more stops in the second half and in turn get some transition baskets,” Gibson said. “I think it’s easy to play hard on defense when you see the ball come in, but what great teams do is find a way to have some consistency and pride in their defensive approach whether or not you’re making shots.”

The Jackets cut the lead to less than 19 after a Dejsani Beamaon and one with 9:43 to play, but that’s about as far as the lead would go as Franklin went to 26-11 in the final 10 minutes.

“There’s a maturation and growth that as a team has to take place, and it has to take place relatively quickly,” Gibson said. “It’s still early and there’s a long way to go in the season, but it’s also going to be very late, so I think we still have to take some drastic measures to get to where we want to go.”

Defiance’s men return to action on the road against Hanover next Saturday, December 10 in the first game of a men’s and women’s doubleheader. The tip is fixed for noon.

The Defiance women only trailed for nine minutes of their 40-minute contest against Franklin, but they still came up behind, falling 58-51.

It was a story of rebounding and short-range bucking failure for the Yellow Jackets, who fell to 1-4, 0-2 HCAC with their second straight loss.

“There were two things for us today. Finishing up defensive possessions, they had too many second-chance points, and then we looked really good around the basket and we weren’t finishing them up,” Defiance interim head coach Rod Hersha said. “It’s just a matter of execution.”

The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded in the contest 47-29, 13-8 on the offensive boards. And then, in attack, they shot just 14 of 55 from the field (25.5%) and 2 of 16 from three (12.5%).

It went back and forth to start the contest as the two were tied at six when the game went to a media timeout.

Outside of that timeout, though, the Yellow Jackets caught fire, riding a 10-0 run that saw McKenzie Cooper get an and one on the first possession followed by a layup by Cait Good, a layup by Cooper, and then a layup by Cait Good. three that he saw Taylor Steinbrunner walk. to the line, the three can and force Franklin to call a timeout.

From then on, Defiance wasn’t far behind until there were seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, as for the first three quarters the team constantly traded buckets with neither being able to pull away from the other.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Defiance led 47-43, with guard Lexi Sparks leading the way with 12 points. But just a minute into the last stanza, she got her fifth foul when she was caught in a switchup with forward Cici Bailey and was called for a block.

Sparks had been an integral part of DC’s offense throughout the game, as despite poor shooting overall, he went 4-for-9 from the field. At that point in the game, Defiance still led 47-43, but once Sparks went to the bench they scored four points for the rest of the game, going 0-for-14 from the field to end the contest.

“We feel like we have a pretty deep bench,” Hersha said of his squad that saw 14 different players come into the game. “But on any given night you have players who are obviously playing a little bit better than others and Lexie was having a good night. She was one of the people who was giving us some offensive consistency.”

Sparks finished the game as the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer with McKenzie Cooper also adding 11. Sparks and Steinbrunner were the only two to connect from deep in the game.

Despite it being the second loss in a row for the Jackets, it wasn’t all bad as the reason they were ahead for much of the game was their defensive performance. Defending was something Hersha knew his team needed to improve after giving up 80 points to Manchester last Wednesday.

Defiance had 15 steals in the game and forced 25 turnovers compared to just 12 for themselves, giving them extra possessions all night to make up for the extra possessions Franklin was getting on the offensive boards.