First half hole too deep to escape for Yellow Jackets on opening night

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Plagued by 14 turnovers and 18 free throw attempts in the first half by their opponents, the Defiance Yellow Jackets were held at bay by the Beloit Buccaneers, 81-64, to open the 2023-24 men's basketball season on Coach Marv Hohenberger Court on Friday.

Despite being outshot at the free-throw line 31-7 coupled with 23 total turnovers, the Yellow Jackets (0-1) knocked down 11 3-pointers to stay within range of the Buccaneers (1-0).

Defiance used the first seven minutes of the second half to trim the Bucs lead to single digits, including a pair of Landen Swanner layups through traffic just ahead of the second media timeout. The contest volleyed between nine and 13 points of separation until Beloit pulled away during the final two minutes capped by a game-high margin of 17 points at the end of the game.

To start the ballgame, Beloit jumped out to an 8-1 lead off a pair of turnovers before Swanner hit back with consecutive triples to get the DC offense off the ground. Point guard Jakob Trevino got involved on a cut through the lane draw within three. Junior guard Will Gehlhausen added a 3-pointer off the bench at the 11:44 mark and pulled the Jackets within two points.

From that point, the Buccaneers went on a 17-3 run over the next five minutes. During that stretch, Beloit had a 13-0 run by forcing DC into five turnovers and made six free throws off of five drawn fouls. Trevino hit a trey at the 7:27 mark of first half then Clay McCorkle knocked down another long-range shot for the Jackets a minute later to get back in sync. After trailing by 16 after that run with 6:32 before half, Defiance cut the lead down to 12 during the final minute on a short jumper by Trevino.

Swanner and Trevino led the Yellow Jackets with 22 and 17 points, respectively, and combined for seven of the team's 11 triples. Gehlhausen hit a pair from outside along with one apiece from McCorkle and Cole Wojciechowski, which was an electrifying make early in the second half. In all, Defiance had seven players in the scoring column and shot 44 percent from the field. Beloit hit 48 percent of their shots, went 27-for-31 at the line and made just two 3-pointers. The Bucs had four players in double figures, led by 19 from Semaj Roy.

During the second game of the Purple and Gold Tournament, Miami-Hamilton claimed a 91-88 win over Bethany.

The Purple and Gold Tournament wraps up with a split-session doubleheader on Saturday, beginning with Bethany and Beloit playing at 11 a.m. The Yellow Jackets tangle with Miami-Hamilton in the second game tipping off at 5:30 p.m. with DC's football game against Bluffton in between at 1:30 p.m.

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