LEXINGTON, Ky. – Defiance College knocked down its first three field goal attempts and jumped Rose-Hulman for an 8-0 lead to open Friday's HCAC Quarterfinal clash but the Engineers withstood the early Jacket surge and held off a late DC rally to end the season for Defiance with a 76-67 defeat.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Defiance that allowed the Purple and Gold to erase a four-game deficit in the standings to Franklin and qualify for the HCAC Tournament for the 10th time in 11 seasons.
A hot-shooting Rose-Hulman squad ended that streak by shooting 60.0 percent from the game with 10 makes from long distance and a 65.4-percent clip from two-point territory. The precise attack helped the Engineers overcome a 10-of-15 showing from downtown by Defiance and post the highest point total against a DC squad since the Jackets yielded 82 in a loss at Anderson on January 25.
The Yellow Jackets countered with 21 points on five-of-seven shooting from long distance by Logan Wolfrum, who became the 21st player in Defiance history to surpass the 1,300-point plateau with 1,307.
Anthony Brown and Kyle Tietje each added 11 in their final collegiate showings, while Jeff Hugan turned in a strong performance in the paint with a game-high seven rebounds to help DC win the battle on the glass by a 24-21 margin.
With both teams shooting so well in the contest, the biggest difference came in points off of turnovers, where Rose-Hulman turned nine DC miscues into 15 points. The Engineers coughed it up just five times and held Defiance to only five points on the ensuing possessions.
A string of early turnovers by DC opened the door to the Rose-Hulman comeback, as the Jackets squandered a blistering start with three-straight blunders that allowed R-H to tie the game at 8-8 with an 8-0 rally.
The Engineers kept the pressure on and knocked down four of their first five looks from beyond the arc to fuel a 19-7 run to take a 19-15 advantage. Hoops from Ryan Hicks and Wolfrum put Defiance back in front by a point but R-H's fired right back and continued its long-ranged attack to claim a 33-28 halftime lead.
The second half opened how the first ended, with Rose-Hulman scoring on its first two possessions and using a 10-2 stretch to build a 43-30 cushion. The gap swelled to as many as 14, with DC being outscored by a 47-25 margin after opening the game with eight-straight points.
The Jackets turned to the long ball to claw back into the contest and got triples from Travis Schomaeker and Drew Frizell to narrow the gap to 63-57 with 6:26 left in the game. Kyle Tietje then knocked in a three to pull DC within six again at 68-62, before Kevin Tietje blocked a shot and Schomaeker struck again from deep to cut the deficit to three points with 2:58 showing on the clock.
The third-seeded Engineers (18-8) delivered the final blow however, scoring on their next possession and answering a dunk from Kyle Tietje with their 10th three-pointer of the evening to push the spread back to seven and ice the HCAC Quarterfinals victory.
The loss moved Defiance to 13-13 overall and marked the end of the collegiate careers for DC's five-man senior class of Anthony Brown, Kyle Tietje, Kevin Tietje, Justin Morris and Brandon Hoke. The unit helped DC to 67 victories over the past four years, never suffered a losing season and highlighted that lofty win total with a 23-win season and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2010.
Brown ended his career with 1,184 points to rank 28th on DC's all-time scoring list, while ranking third with a career mark of 84.0 percent from the charity stripe and seventh in DC history with 158 makes from three-point range.
The Tietje brothers also etched their names in the Defiance record book for career blocks, as Kyle ended fourth in program history with 63 blocks and Kevin finished in seventh with 48.
Defiance is poised to return 15 players and 11 lettermen for the 2012-2013 campaign, and will look to extend its streak of six-straight seasons without a losing record. The season will also be highlighted by Wolfrum's likely ascent up DC's all-time scoring list, as the Defiance, Ohio native will need 397 more points during his final year with the Purple and Gold to pass Chad Kahle (1996-200) as the second-highest scorer in program history.