By Josh Bruner, sports information assistant
The Bluffton University men's basketball team hosted the Yellow Jackets of Defiance College on Wednesday, February 16, for Senior Night. The Beavers honored Rob Luderman (Ayersville) and Cam Saylor (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) for four years in the Bluffton men's basketball program.
Defiance took the early lead, pulling ahead 34-28 at the break. The Beavers picked up the defense in the second as they added another 28 while holding Defiance to 22 to push the game into extra time. The Yellow Jackets outscored Bluffton 10-6 in overtime for a 66-62 win. Defiance improved to 12-12 overall and 7-10 in the HCAC. Bluffton's fifth straigh loss dropped the Beavers back to 14-10 overall and 7-10 in the conference.
Defiance started out hot as they hit the first two shots for a quick 4-0 lead. The Beavers put together their first bucket after a minute and a half with a Mychal Hill (London/Jonathan Alder) layup. This was followed by a Hill three which pulled the Beavers within one (6-5) at the 16:40 mark.
The teams traded buckets over the next two minutes as the Jackets kept the one point lead following a Ryan Hicks layup. Two Brent Farley (Lima/Shawnee) free throws with 12:51 left in the half put the Beavers up, 9-8.
The teams continued to battle over the next three minutes as a Dustin Kinn (Alvada/New Riegel) layup kept Bluffton up one, 19-18. The Yellow Jackets went back ahead and a Logan Wolfrum jumper pushed the Defiance lead to 26-21 with 5:17 on the clock.
The Yellow Jackets maintained the lead over the remainder of the half before an Anthony Brown three-pointer in the left corner as time expired put Defiance up 34-28 at the break.
A Farley layup made it a one possession game, 36-34, before the Yellow Jackets responded by going on a 6-0 run, capped with a Hicks jumper that put them up 42-34 with 14:47 left in regulation.
A Josh Johnson (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) free throw cut the deficit to five points as Bluffton trailed 42-37 at the 13:27 mark. Defiance slowly pulled ahead with their biggest lead of the night when a Wolfrum jumper pushed the advantage to 50-40 with 8:33 left to play.
The Beavers picked up the pace as they whittled away at the lead. Two Kinn free throws pulled Bluffton within four with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Two Hill free throws made it 56-55 with three and a half minutes left. A Farley foul shot tied the game at 56-56 with 1:20 left. Both defenses were up to the task as neither team managed a bucket in the last minute of the game.
The teams started slowly in overtime as neither squad scored until the 3:46 mark when the Yellow Jackets took the lead. Bluffton responded on the next possession with a Will Pope (Somerville/Preble Shawnee) layup. Defiance put together a chip shot from Hicks and a Kevin Tietje free throw for a three-point lead with just over two minutes left to play.
Bluffton pulled ahead by one thanks to a Josh Fisher (Rockford/Parkway) steal and layup with just 1:23 left. The Yellow Jackets responded with a deuce of their own. Bluffton was unable to answer and the home team was forced to foul as Defiance claimed the 66-62 victory.
The Beaver scoring was evenly distributed as they had four players in double digits. Leading the team in the scoring column was Hill with 15, going 10-of-10 from the charity stripe while pulling down a career-high seven rebounds. Dustin Kinn added 13 off the bench. Farley chipped in with his 7th double-double, dropping in 12 points while pulling down 12 rebounds and swatting away five shots. Fisher added 10 markers for the Beavers. Bluffton struggled from the field as they converted only 19-of-53 (35.8 percent), including 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) from behind the arc. The Beavers knocked down 23-of-31 (74.2 percent) at the stripe.
The Defiance offense was led by Wolfrum who dropped in 22 points and dished out four assists on 10-of-23 shooting. Brandon Campbell added 12 for the Yellow Jackets. Hicks chipped in 11 and pulled down nine boards for Defiance. The Yellow Jackets hit 29-of-70 (41.4 percent), but struggled from behind the arc, connecting on 1-of-13 attempts (7.7 percent).
The Bluffton University men's basketball team will travel to Earlham College for its last regular season game on Saturday, February 19. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. A Bluffton win would likely propel the Beavers into the six-team Heartland Conference tournament next week.
