DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance held Bluffton without a point for a stretch of over nine minutes in the second half to pull away for a 62-46 win over the Beavers on Wednesday night inside the Karl H. Weaner Community Center. The win moves DC to 126-63 all-time against Bluffton.
The scoreless drought by the Beavers proved to be the decisive stretch in the contest, as neither side opened up a lead of over five points through the opening 20 minutes of action. BU's 23-18 lead was quickly sliced to a single point on a pair of hoops from Ryan Hicks, with the Jackets closing the opening stanza on a 10-5 run to head to the lockers knotted at 28-28.
Defiance then scored the first six points of the second half and eventually raced to a 40-31 lead by the 16:13 mark of the final period, after a pair of free throws from Bernard Edwards opened up the largest lead of the night to that point.
A three pointer from Bluffton just 10 seconds later narrowed the margin to six points at 40-34, but the Yellow Jackets would not allow another point from the Beavers until only 6:52 was left in the contest.
During the stretch of 9:11, DC outscored the Beavers by a margin of 11-0 to break open a 51-34 gap. Edwards, Logan Wolfrum and Mason Roth accounted for all 11 points during the spurt, while Bluffton went zero-for-13 from the floor and missed all five free throw attempts.
Four-straight points from the Beavers finally ended the DC run, but the Jackets immediately countered with a three from Travis Schomaeker and a pair of free throws from D.J. Bonds to push the spread to a game-high of 18 points at 56-38 with 4:41 showing on the clock.
The game's outcome would never be in doubt from that point on, as Defiance finished off the 62-46 victory to extend its home winning streak against conference foes to seven-straight victories.
Wolfrum led all players with 20 points and added five rebounds in his 33 minutes of work. The game marked the 32nd time that Wolfrum has netted 20-or-more points in a single game and moved the senior guard into a tie with Terry Morman (1986-1990) for eighth place on DC's all-time scoring chart with 1,542 career points.
Edwards joined Wolfrum in double figures with 12 points and added four blocks, three boards and two steals in his return to the lineup, while Hicks and Schomaeker added nine points each and Roth ended with eight.
Defiance (7-5, 3-2 HCAC) will now gear up for its first road test since December 5, when it heads south to take on Transylvania (9-3, 4-1 HCAC) in a 1:00 pm tip at the Beck Center.