TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Defiance College senior guard, Logan Wolfrum, became the 16th player in program history and the first since Anthony Pettaway in 2009 to eclipse the 1,400-point marker but Wolfrum's 16-point showing was not enough in a 63-52 loss at Rose-Hulman.
The Yellow Jackets headed to R-H looking to avenge a season-ending loss to the Engineers in the quarterfinals of last season's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament and traded shots with the home squad for much of the opening stanza.
Rose-Hulman used crisp ball movement to assist on seven of its first eight hoops, while Defiance relied on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor to keep pace in a 25-25 stalemate through the opening 15 minutes of action.
The Engineers then sank their next three attempts from the field and added a pair of free throws to open up the first lead of over three points for either side. The 9-2 stretch over the final 3:34 of the period sent Rose-Hulman to the break with a 34-27 cushion.
Defiance hung around despite connecting on only one-of-six shots from beyond the arc and watching the Engineers make shots at a 55.0-percent rate from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
The Rose-Hulman lead grew to 36-27 to open the second half, as the Engineers extended their decisive spurt to 11-2 from the end of the opening stanza.
The Jackets would flirt with finding their range from long distance, as triples from Mason Roth and Wolfrum twice brought DC back to within only four points, but those would be the only two makes from three-point range for Defiance the rest of the way.
Despite the poor shooting from long distance the Purple and Gold still continued to hang around, pulling to within five points with 11:30 and 10:01 left to play in the contest. Without the shots falling from downtown however, DC could get no closer and ultimately fell by the 63-52 margin.
Defiance ended the contest just three-of-15 from three-point territory and shot only 43.8 percent from the field in the loss. Rose-Hulman (5-1, 1-0 HCAC) countered by hitting 53.7 percent of its attempts from the floor and six-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Roth and Ryan Hicks each chipped in 11 points for the Jackets, while Wolfrum led the charge with 16 points and three assists.
Wolfrum now sits at 1,403 points and 313 assists in his career, ranking the senior 16th in scoring and fourth in assists in DC history. The Ayersville High product now sits just two assists behind Kirk Seemann (1986-1990) for the third-highest total in program history.
Wolfrum will look to continue his climb up the charts on DC and help the Jackets get back on the winning track, when Defiance plays at Anderson on December 5 at 7:30 pm.