Jackets sting Saints on Senior Day behind Chatman, Angstmann

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Defiance Yellow Jackets completed the men's basketball season with an 84-75 victory over the Aquinas Saints.

The Yellow Jackets completed the season 13-14 and 8-14 in WHAC play, finishing with the most wins for the program since the 2015-16 season (15-11). The Saints (11-16, 9-13) continue their season next week in the WHAC Tournament.

Defiance's lone senior, Parker Chatman, set the tone early with the team's first basket of the day and went on to split the Jackets' first 8 points with Carter Sudhoff. Chatman went on to eclipse his single-game best with 11 points through the first 13 minutes of the game, including a 3-pointer during a 14-2 DC run that captured the lead. The Yellow Jackets held the lead the remainder of the half and led by as many as 7 points early in the second. 

Aquinas inched back to take a 51-49 lead but DC answered with layups by Evan Angstmann, Sudhoff, and Christian Burton to start a 10-0 run for the Jackets. The Saints hung around and held a pair of breif one-point leads coming down the stretch. Wren Sheets put his mark on the game with a strong putback to give DC a 3-point lead but Aquinas answered with a game-tying 3-pointer.

Donovan Stone awarded the Jackets the lead for good on a strong take to break the tie and added a free throw after a foul. On the inbound play, Carder Orr deflected an Aquinas pass into the basket to make it a 5-point swing. Aquinas failed to answer on their end and Baylen Blockberger delivered a dagger 3-pointer to stretch DC's lead to 78-70. Blockberger accounted for DC's last 7 points with 4 more free throws.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Yellow Jackets shot 49 percent from the floor and dominated the boards, 49-27. They also overcame 16 turnovers.
• Evan Angstmann set a new career-high for rebounds for the second straight game, securing 20 boards to go with 18 points. Angstmann is the first DC hooper since Chad Kahle on Dec. 4, 1999 (21 rebounds) to secure 20 or more rebounds in a game and the 10th overall in program history. Angstmann also blocked 4 shots, also a single-game career best. Angstmann finished the season with 78 3-pointers, the 6th-most in a season at DC.
• Parker Chatman scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. He also secured 4 rebounds, dished out a career-best 3 assists and blocked 2 shots.
• Carter Sudhoff continued his hot finish to the season with 17 more points, marking his third straight game with 17 points or more.
• Christian Burton had 10 points with 5 assists, finishing the year with 162 assists this season and the most by a DC player since Mike Floyd's 178 in 2008-09.

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