DEFIANCE, Ohio – Anthony Brown became the second Yellow Jacket in two games to join Defiance College's 1,000-point club, netting 15 points to help Defiance to an 81-77 win over Knox in Thursday's opening round of the Purple and Gold Financial Tournament.
Brown became DC's 45th member of the 1,000-point club, following Logan Wolfrum by just one game. Wolfrum eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier in Defiance's previous game on December 17. Brown's accomplishment resulted in a victory however, as the senior netted 11 of his points in the second half, including his 1,000th point on a trifecta at the 17:30 mark of the second stanza that gave the Purple and Gold a 45-43 advantage.
Along with being the 45th Yellow Jacket to reach the milestone, giving DC three more 1,000-point scorers in program history than any other Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference program, Brown is the fifth Defiance athlete to reach the mark in the past five seasons, joining Wolfrum (2011), Nick Sales (2010), Anthony Pettaway (2009) and C.J. Johnson (2008) as the most recent Jackets to do so.
Defiance would need the extra scoring from Brown, as an early 28-15 cushion evaporated over the final 8:55 of the opening stanza. A 22-8 spurt by Knox to close the half resulted in a 37-36 lead at the break for the Prairie Fire.
A Knox bucket to start the second period would open up the largest lead of the night for the visitors, before consecutive hoops from Wolfrum and Kyle Tietje put DC back in front and the trey from Brown made in 45-43 in favor of DC.
The Jackets would continue to pour it in over the next several minutes, opening up a 61-53 gap with just over 12 minutes left to play, before another Knox rally would return DC to a one-point deficit with 5:21 showing on the clock.
The deficit would double to two points at 71-69 with 3:42 left, before a pair of Brandon Hoke free throws knotted the game with 3:12 to go. Defiance would then get eight-straight points from Mason Roth, as the freshman point guard took over with a three-point play, a three-point shot and two free throws over the next three Yellow Jacket possessions to put Defiance up by a 79-73 margin with 41 seconds left in the game.
Knox would score the next four points to keep the pressure on Defiance, before Brown sank a pair from the charity stripe to seal the four-point win for the Purple and Gold.
Defiance won for the first time all season after trailing at the half, using a 45-40 edge in the final 20 minutes to secure the victory. DC shot 53.8 percent in the final stanza, including five-of-11 from beyond the arc. The Jackets also shot well from the free throw line, sinking 12-of-13 shots in the final period and shooting 81.0 percent on the evening.
Wolfrum led all scorers with 26 points on nine-of-13 shooting, while Roth set career highs with 15 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four steals. Brown also scored 15 points, while Tietje ended with 11 points and four boards.
Defiance (3-7) snapped a five-game losing skid with its 11th-straight victory inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center against a non-conference opponent and will look for its third-straight and 21st total Purple and Gold Financial Tournament championship when it hosts Lakeland at 7:00 pm on Friday, December 30.
The Muskies tied a Purple and Gold Financial Tournament record by sinking 16 triples in an 88-75 victory over Trine in the first game on Thursday. Lakeland connected on 16-of-37 attempts from beyond the arc, to tie DC's mark set in a 129-97 win over Houghton in 1993.