Yellow Jackets slip at home to Cornerstone

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance Yellow Jackets' slide at home continued on Wednesday night with a 71-60 loss to the Cornerstone Golden Eagles in WHAC competition at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

The Yellow Jackets (11-11, 6-11 WHAC) have lost three straight home games since the start of the new year while the Golden Eagles (10-13, 9-8 WHAC) secured the season sweep over DC.

The first 20 minutes was dominated by Cornestone's Blake Stewart, who posted 19 of the team's 34 points in the first half. He made 8-of-11 attempts and pulled in 7 rebounds on the night the senior surpassed 1,000 career points.

Defiance started in a 9-2 hole but Evan Angstmann struck a pair of treys to get the Purple and Gold rolling on offense. After trailing just 13-10 thorugh the first media timeout, the Golden Eagles started to create some distance and finished the half shooting 50 percent despite just one 3-pointer. 

The Jackets won the second half in which Carter Sudhoff set the tone with 3 makes out of the locker room. Cornerstone pushed ahead by as many as 17 points with 11:40 remaining, but the Jackets made a flurry of 3-pointers to pull within 9 points with 9 minutes left. Treys by Christian Burton, Donovan Stone, and Thomas Hallett all kept the resilient effort alive, but Cornerstone refused to let the DC defense make the big stop to turn the tide. Defiance pulled as close as 8 points with 5 minutes left after a 3-point play by Wren Sheets.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The first half separation was created by Cornerstone finding good looks in the paint. For the game, Cornerstone tallied 42 points in the paint.
• Defiance used the 3-point shot to make up ground in the second half, making 5 of its 7 treys after halftime.
• Rebounding and turnovers were very close all night with Cornerstone winning the boards by 2 and Defiance committing 2 fewer turnovers.
• The Yellow Jackets had trouble finishing open looks. For the game, DC was credited with 22 missed layups.
• Wren Sheets shined coming down the stretch, posting a career-best 15 points. He scored 9 of his points after halftime and also finished with 7 rebounds.
• Donovan Stone and Evan Angstmann also finished in double figures at 12 and 10 points, respectively. Angstmann swatted a pair of shots and added a steal defensively with 4 defensive boards.
• Carter Sudhoff was limited due to foul trouble but put up 8 points and 6 rebounds in 14 minutes of action.

UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets have a key WHAC contest against the UNOH Racers on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. following the women's game.

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