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Morris Cregger Domino's New Year's Classic: Defiance College 87, Ferrum College 85

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SALEM, Va. - Defiance College will attempt to finish off its non-conference schedule undefeated today at the Morris Cregger Domino's New Year's Classic in Salem, Va. after posting an 87-85 triumph over Ferrum (Virginia) College on the campus of Roanoke College on Saturday.

"We're a position where we have an opportunity to go undefeated in our non-conference schedule," said second-year DC coach Kyle Brumett. "I don't know how long it's been since that's happened at Defiance, because that's a pretty daunting task. We're also in a position to win three out of three tournaments. It's going to be a really tough job tomorrow."

The Jackets (10-2) will tangle with Ohio Wesleyan University (3-7), which was a 74-55 victor against host Roanoke in Saturday's nightcap, today at approximately 3 p.m. DC knocked off the Battling Bishops earlier this season on Nov. 24, 74-71.

Defiance College nearly let a 21-point lead slip away against Ferrum, before securing the 87-85 victory to advance into Sunday’s championship game.

The Jackets nearly ran away with the victory despite struggling from the floor and shooting just 40 percent. DC countered the shooting woes by dominating the glass by a 51-42 margin and showing great ball movement, en route to 22 assists and only 11 turnovers. The depth of the Purple and Gold also came into play once again, as DC’s reserves outscored Ferrum’s non-starters by a hefty 42-3 clip.

The strong team effort allowed Defiance to lead throughout much of the afternoon and a 12-4 rally to close the first half secured a 45-33 lead at the break for the Jackets.

Anthony Brown widened that gap to 51-33 with a pair of three-point shots to begin the second stanza and the lead gradually swelled to 66-45 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the contest.

The 21-point cushion would not last long however, as Ferrum closed the game with a furious comeback and managed to draw within three points in the closing seconds. Mike Floyd would ice the victory however, sinking a pair of free throws with one second left to put DC up five. Ferrum (5-6) would hit a half-court three at the horn, but it was merely a formality in the, 87-85, Defiance victory.

"I give a lot of credit to Ferrum and their coach tonight," said Brumett. "They never quit ... they kept scrapping. They have a lot of individual guys that were hard to guard, tough matchups for us. I think the big lead we built was a little deceptive in that they're pretty good. I wish we could've finished it off a little bit differently, but we don't want to take winning for granted either. We're in the championship game of the third tournament we've been in. It's the position we wanted to be in, we did a lot of good things. I have an older group of guys that I'm going to hope and trust that they can make some adjustments so we can continue to get better playing with the lead."

Floyd led the charge once again, ending with 17 points, nine assists and four steals, while Heath Armstrong and Brown combined for six treys and 26 points. Nick Sales filled the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals and Kevin Tietje chipped in 14 points.

The Jackets placed four players in double figures for the fourth-straight game. Defiance has notched wins in all four, while averaging 95.0 points per game during that stretch.

"Again, we were really balanced," said Brumett. "A lot of guys contributed and made a lot of positive plays.

"We guarded them for a stretch at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half really well," concluded Brumett. "We forced turnovers and we were really aggressive offensively, which allowed to score and set the pressure. In that stretch in the second half, we just kind of played a little tentative. I think we were playing a little not to lose instead of to win. We weren't aggressive and because of that they have two really good one-one-players. We didn't finish our plays and we shot a really low percentage in the second half, so we could never set the press and they got they bunch of shots. We were in a position where we didn't finish and they're coming right back at us with their two really good one-on-one players and those two guys really made us pay."